Gran Jurado del Condado de Lake

2006-2007

6 informes

Hallazgos & Recomendaciones 1 hallazgos
F2007: If necessary, they will be reviewed again in fall 2007.
Página 8
Hallazgos & Recomendaciones 1 hallazgos
F2006: • The State of California and the federal government are to reim- burse the county for the purchase of the voting machines. This has not occurred to date. • The electronic voting machines purchased by the Registrar of Voters meets all ADA accessibility standards and were an excep- tional decision in saving the county money, otherwise two ma- chines per polling place would have been required. • The Registrar of Voters shares office space in the Lakeport court- house with the Auditor-Controller. The office space is grossly in- adequate for the daily staff and storage, and has no room for ex- pansion during elections. • Absentee ballots are counted at the time they are received and are reported in the initial election returns.
Página 17

Hallazgos y recomendaciones aún no extraídos.

Recomendaciones adicionales 1

No vinculadas a hallazgos específicos.

R1: Responses to Grand Jury requests for public record information must be provided in a timely fashion to avoid unnecessary delays in time and resources. Agency/Department Required Respond Lake County Department of Social Services (within 60-days) Public Health and Social Services Committee Indian Child Welfare Act Compliance by the Lake County Department of Social Services and Child Protective Services Acronyms Summary AODS - Alcohol and Other Drugs Services CDSS - California Dept of Social Services While investigating a complaint re- CILS - California Indian Legal Services garding a Lake County CPS case, the CPS - Child Protective Services CWDA - California Welfare Director Association Committee discovered the case met GAO - Government Accountability Office with ICWA criteria. This federal act ICWA - Indian Child Welfare Act was created to stem the dispropor- LCDSS - Lake County Department of Social Services tionate number of Indian children LCJC - Lake County Juvenile Court placed and adopted out of their In- LCOE - Lake County Office of Education Peer TA - Peer Technical Assistance (Casey dian communities, without input Family Programs) from their tribe. In 1978, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (PL 95-608) for the pur- pose of protecting the best interests of American Indian children. It was designed to promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and families, and provide assistance to tribes in the operation of children and family services programs (see Appendix A). The pas- sage of ICWA is the result of over a decade of national effort. This effort was by those concerned with the large number of Indian chil- dren that were removed by county welfare officials from their family homes and placed into non-Indian settings. This was done without consultation with either tribal officials or the Indian community re- sulting in emotional injury and cultural loss to the child, and dam- age to the integrity of tribal survival. CPS and court compliance with ICWA is mandatory. In 2006, Cali- fornia passed and signed into law SB678, a bill that further strengthens the language of the federal law and acts to codify ICWA. This was necessitated by the fact that the federal law in many cases was being ignored. A report issued from the United States GAO af- firms that states, including California, struggle with complying with ICWA. Public Health and Social Services Committee Procedure/Methodology This Committee conducted extensive research (see references) and interviewed numerous individuals during the course of this investi- gation. Interviews were conducted with Lake County CPS, a division of Lake County DSS, ICWA Representatives from Lake County Indian tribes, CILS, and the California DSS ICWA Administration Special- ists. The Committee also attended monthly ICWA Round Table meetings in Lake County and a quarterly California DSS ICWA work group meeting in Sacramento. Background and Discussion According to Lake County DSS, the following are some significant Lake County statistics regarding the local Native American popula- tion: • The American Indian and Alaskan Native population is 1,772 of 58,309, or 3% of the county’s population (per Census 2000). • The Lake County CPS caseload that meets ICWA criteria or pend- ing tribal verification is 9.3% (as of 12/06). • ICWA children in foster care are 9.8% (as of 12/06). ICWA provides minimum federal standards for state child custody court proceedings, which include voluntary and involuntary foster care placements, termination of parental rights, and pre-adoptive and adoptive placements involving Indian children. Key elements of these standards include, but are not limited to: • Before removing Indian children from their homes, attempts must first be made to prevent the breakup of Indian families through active efforts to provide rehabilitation and remedial services. • The Indian child’s parent(s), Indian custodian, and the child’s tribe must be properly notified of pending custody proceedings. Child custody cases cannot proceed to a hearing until at least ten court days after receipt of the notice. Notice to a child’s tribe must be sent to the tribe’s chairperson or its designated agent for service of process. • Proper notice must be written in clear and understandable lan- guage. • Clear and convincing evidence, including testimony from a quali- fied expert witness as defined by ICWA, is required for removal of an Indian child from his or her parent(s) or Indian custodian. Public Health and Social Services Committee
Página 81

Hallazgos y recomendaciones aún no extraídos.

Hallazgos y recomendaciones aún no extraídos.