Author: The Clinton Foundation Blog
In San Diego County — and most U.S. cities — children and families involved with the foster care and juvenile justice systems are dealing with personal challenges, trauma and uncertain futures. It’s here that the Clinton Foundation, The San Diego Foundation and the County of San Diego are collaborating to be proactive and identify sustainable solutions to the challenges encountered by families involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
Building on the progress of the Live Well San Diego vision to have a region that is healthy, safe and thriving, this partnership aims to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and offer important lessons for communities across the United States. The “Strong Families, Thriving Communities” coalition, formed in 2017 and facilitated by the Clinton Health Matters Initiative and partners, seeks to improve the health and well-being of children and families involved with San Diego’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems and address disproportionality and disparities of families involved with these systems.
In San Diego County, Child Welfare Services has adopted a trauma-informed approach as the best practice. Involvement with Child Welfare Services is difficult for children and families and trauma-informed practices can help address those difficulties and remove barriers for family reunification.
With the assistance of the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, members of the Strong Families, Thriving Communities coalition created and prioritized their objectives through 29 Bold Action Steps: diverse, measurable, and collaborative goals to improve San Diego communities. Two of these steps involve implementing trauma-informed care and resiliency-building approaches to all systems and providers and providing supportive and culturally-relevant services by staff who have lived experience.
Learn more about thier trauma-informed care approach on the Clinton Foundation Blog:
County News Center