These Cuts Won’t Heal

This blog is written from Washington, DC today where I am attending the National Conference of the Child Welfare League of America. The conference is an opportunity to hear inspirational speakers, attend workshops on various practice issues, become familiar with any number of legislative issues and spend time meeting with legislators and their staff to advocate for the children, youth and families we serve.

On Tuesday afternoon I went along with more than a dozen colleagues from California to fan out through the congressional offices to greet our legislators and advocate for the needs of those we serve. This, of course, is an especially challenging time as the Federal government wrestles with growing deficits.

For my part, it is difficult to argue for more funding in such a challenging economic environment. That being said, the challenge is to advocate nevertheless for funding that is necessary to provide essential services that makes a difference for very vulnerable children and their families. Funding that is targeted to serve the most vulnerable, which is proven to demonstrate improvement, reduce recidivism and create stability for both the child and family, must be made available even at a time of financial constraint. Attempts to balance the Federal budget on the backs of the poor and vulnerable are unacceptable. Somehow in the quagmire of government the interests of the needy surely can be addressed without a wholesale elimination of these essential entitlements.

This is the message that we share with our legislators as we advocate in a particular way this year against $60 million in cuts proposed by the House of Representatives. These cuts would only worsen the capacity of California to address its most vulnerable children. To learn more about these efforts, check out CWLA campaign, These Cuts Won’t Heal, at www.CWLA.org.

Although, at times, these efforts seem significantly removed from the everyday responsibilities to care for the children and families entrusted to us, it is important that we communicate with our elected officials the impact that their actions will have on the well being of those we serve and their constituents as well.

Please join me in encouraging our legislators to consider the impact their actions will have on the children and families we serve. Cuts to education, social services and health care may indeed balance the budget, but it will only exacerbate the struggle the most vulnerable wage to improve their lives. For some, the struggle is one of life and death.

You Got to Love Them!

One of the great things about the campus at Hillsides is our ability to interact with students and residents. Give them the opportunity and they will tell you with no hesitation exactly what they are thinking about and what their opinions might be on any and all topics whether you want to hear or not. Why not? At the end of the day it’s all about them.

Recently, Jay Bechtol, director of the Hillsides Education Center, sat down with some of the students to get their views on the school program. What follows is Jay's account of their input. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

"When I think back to my days in school, one of the things I remember is how radically different my day-to-day experience was from what my parents and the adults around me thought  my school was like.  With that in mind, I asked several high school students to give me their views on HEC.  Here are some of their thoughts:

• The environment is too restrictive and sometimes the teachers have unrealistic expectations of the students.
• I love going to lunch and going on outings.
• I like PE and Math and getting to spend special time with Carolyn.
• I hate school lunch and we can’t get seconds.
• I like having friends here, at my old school I didn’t have any.
• For the most part the staff are caring.
• I don’t like the ineffective rewards program and wish there were more shop classes.
• I like the teachers and how they help us.
• I hate Math!
• I like talking to Isom
• Jay, don’t put my name on this, but I think Mr. B is a really good teacher.

In talking with these students and reading their comments, I was hit by a wave of nostalgia…How important friends were, how important a teacher was, and why Sloppy Joe day was better than fish stick day. 

Of course, the students at HEC are struggling with so many more issues than most of us ever did.  But, ultimately, they want many of the same things, and I think that the teachers and staff at HEC have created an environment where that is possible. Go Hawks!"

You Have to Believe in the Kids

This past Sunday on the CBS newsmagazine, “60 Minutes,” a segment featured the innovative and controversial charter school in New York City, The Equity Project (www.tepcharter.org). At one point in the segment, a teacher was interviewed and, in response to a question about the challenges of teaching disadvantaged and at-risk youth, she responded that more than anything else, “You have to believe in the kids.”

Her comment really resonated with me because I hear it said every day here at Hillsides as we address the challenges that our kids confront. At the end of the day, you have to believe that somewhere beyond the hurt, the trauma, the confusion and anger,  each child can move beyond the obstacles and come away restored with a sense of hope and a fuller life.

Belief is often tested when it is up against the odds for failure. Let there be no doubt the odds for the children and families we serve are against them. In spite of the challenges, when they are surrounded by good services and more importantly great people, something wonderful begins to happen. You see the change in their demeanor and behavior -- eventually a sense of hope is restored.

Years in this field has convinced me that there is no reason to give up hope for any child or family. Though the challenges are great and the resources are scarce, what we are able to offer them makes such a difference--the kind of difference that changes lives!

Please join me in resisting the cynicism of our stressed and painfully limited world by embracing those we serve, convinced that if you believe in them, in their inherent dignity and worth, that great and wonderful things can happen for them.