County supervisors want Basha out of juvenile dependency court

Here is the part of my statement that I wish the paper would have quoted:

"It is easy to find fault in an under-resourced, bureaucratic system that deals with families in their worst life moments.  Trauma and toxic stress are absolutely present in every adult and child caught up in the dependency system and it is virtually impossible to serve any party in this system and not be affected by adversity within it.  Because of the enormity of this adversity and the sensitivity of those touched by it, any efforts to affect real and positive change must be made in a spirit of collaboration, a shared solution driven process - as recommended by the Child and Family Policy Institute's 2016 assessment of Yolo County's Child welfare system."

In my work at Yolo County CASA and Resilient Yolo I am committed to practicing resilience building and trauma informed strategies that lift up all members of the community.  Strategies that are inclusive, nurturing and collaborative.  We are all human and we will all fall short at times.  Our children must be protected, loved and nurtured to the best of our abilities.  I hope we can find a way to get there together.

I do not understand why an elected official should be dictating what the court can or cannot do.  The supervisors response is extreme.  It is up to social services and the supervisor to make a recommendation based on best practices.  Of course keeping ACEs in mind.  But then the court decides based on the recommendation and the judge's perception on the interests of the child.  Last year, from the Enterprise or April 6, 2016: ' “This hasn’t been a balanced presentation,” Daniel Webster, a UC Berkeley professor and principal investigator of the California Child Welfare Indicators Project, told supervisors.

“Because we have few such children in the county, those (re-entry) numbers are going to be subject to going up and down,” he said, adding that the data showing the percentage of children re-entering the system includes probation cases — not just dependency cases.

 “Yolo does not jump out as a county with an inordinately high re-entry rate,” he said.'

It is a highly emotional issue for the supervisor involved.  One from which it would be difficult for this supervisor not to have some pre-judging.   I do not think the judge should be changed in this case.  Each case has to be considered on its own merits for reunification or not. The action of the supervisors is extreme and does not seem to represent my understanding of the best interests of the child, particularly if social services recommends reunification.   It is instead prejudiced against reunification.

I assure you that at least four board members are highly educated on ACEs. I think this is, in part why they have focused so vigorously on the issue of child welfare in Yolo County. Reach out to them and join in on the discussion! It would be great to have Resilient Yolo help to create safe places for all children!