Children in Yolo County are experiencing abuse and neglect almost 5 percent more than average in California, according to a presentation given by the local Child Abuse Prevention Council.
The presentation at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting served as an annual update and brought up some major concerns.
Among them, the fact that the county has a rate of 12.3 per 1,000 children that are abused or neglected compared to the state’s rate of 7.7 per 1,000. In 2017, 604 “substantial cases” were reported in Yolo County, according to the report which drew on statistics from UC Berkeley’s Center for Social Services Research.
Additionally, 8.1 per 1,000 children in the county are placed in foster care in comparison to California’s average of 5.7 per 1,000 in 2018. This stat comes from UC Berkeley’s Child Welfare Indicators Project.
Yolo parents almost broke state norms across the board related to risk factors for abuse or neglect — they are:
• Need for mental or emotional health treatment or use of drugs or alcohol in the last year. California’s average risk was 17 percent, the county’s 20.7 percent.
• Mental illness hospitalizations among pregnant women age 15 to 44 in the past year. The state’s risk level of 5.3 percent versus Yolo County’s 9.5 percent.
• Domestic violence calls for assistance per 1,000 persons. California averages 6 percent while Yolo averages 6.9 percent.
• Mothers with recent live birth have income below the federal poverty guideline was the only risk factor the county average did not surpass with 34.3 percent opposed to the state’s 41 percent.
Although the numbers were shocking to some, Supervisor Jim Provenza made an observation that could explain county rates:
“It looks like there’s more child abuse in Yolo County than statewide, but that might not be,” he said. “It may be that we are pursuing it more effectively and therefore our numbers are higher and it would be good to look into that a little more.”
Child Abuse Prevention Councils were established by the state legislature in 1989 to “coordinate efforts to prevent and respond to child abuse and neglect,” according to the presentation. There is a council in every county.
Yolo CAPC Chairwoman Tracy Fauver, who made the presentation, explained that a data committee is being established (likely in partnership with Resilient Yolo) to establish a more full picture of where the county is and where it needs to go. She says they’re taking their time in forming a strategic plan to make sure it will address the issues that need it most and Provenza agreed that it makes more sense to wait and do it right.
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