Santa Cruz County Grand Jury
• 2018-2019
These Are Our Children Responding to Youth Homelessness in Santa Cruz County
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 5 findings
F1
The restrictive eligibility requirements of AB 12 exclude some former foster youth from obtaining services available through that legislation and can result in their becoming homeless.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Human Services Department should develop and distribute written procedures for ensuring that eligible foster youth are aware of the requirements and deadlines to opt in to AB 12. (F1)
F2
Turnover among Family and Children’s Services social workers disrupts the care of children in foster care, to their detriment.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Human Services Department should review the rate of turnover among social workers in the Family and Children Services unit and conduct a study to identify the underlying causes of FCS social worker departures, including exit interviews. (F2)
F3
The location and limited hours of the lone drop-in center in Santa Cruz County restricts the access of homeless young adults to necessary services and available resources.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The County Administrative Officer should expand the Continuum of Care Request for Proposals to include a mid-County drop-in center in addition to the ones proposed for North and South County. (F3)
F4
Santa Cruz County lacks an effective means of identifying and locating homeless youth and unaccompanied minor children in order to connect them to available resources.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The Human Services Department should initiate a pilot outreach program to homeless unaccompanied minor children and young adults, to be implemented no later than the end of 2018. (F4, F5)
F5
The County has no emergency or long term shelter available to house homeless youth and unaccompanied minor children, placing them at risk in adult shelters and on the streets.
Related Recommendations (2)
R4
The Human Services Department should initiate a pilot outreach program to homeless unaccompanied minor children and young adults, to be implemented no later than the end of 2018. (F4, F5)
R5
The Human Services Department should identify a location for, and the Board of Supervisors should provide funds for, an emergency shelter for homeless young adults, with a separate section for homeless unaccompanied minor children. (F5)
Conclusions 1
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CL1 Page 12In September 2017 an article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel quoted a staff member in the County’s Human Services Department: We should be housing every youth we see. We should not be walking and stepping over the youth that are lying down or standing around who are homeless. We should be interacting with them, we should be engaging them and thinking about, ‘How can I personally, in Santa Cruz County, contribute to this cause?’ ‘How can I end youth homelessness on an individual basis?’[40] More than one in four of Santa Cruz County’s homeless is a young adult or an unaccompanied minor child. They are, for the most part, invisible members of our community. Recognizing the urgency to solve youth homelessness, there have been many well-intentioned efforts at the local, State and federal levels, some of which have been very effective but limited in their scope. Implementation of the HUD Continuum of Care model is a significant step toward resolving the problems identified in this investigation, as well as the other difficulties facing the children and young adults who are homeless in Santa Cruz County; however, while the grants and other funding have addressed some systemic deficiencies, additional resources will be required to achieve the County’s goal of ending youth homelessness by 2020.
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
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