Child Abuse Prevention Month observed
County officials discussed and received information on child abuse and neglect
Yolo County officials discussed the problem of child abuse and neglect to commemorate Child Abuse Prevention Month.
“Over the course of the last couple of years, last few years, we’ve had some really horrific events in West Sacramento,” Oscar Villegas told his fellow supervisors on Tuesday before the board passed the resolution affirming April as Child Abuse Prevention Month. “These are occurring, and time is moving on. It’s easy to forget and it’s easy to move on, but I certainly don’t want to let this opportunity go by without remembering some very, very difficult, horrific events that have occurred
in eastern Yolo County, in West Sacramento.”
Villegas recanted multiple events that happened in his city, the most recent being a murder of a one-yearold child and extensive injuries to another child in a West Sacramento motel in February. Derrick Woods, the suspect in the case, was dating the victims’ mother at the time of the attack.
“Oftentimes with these events, there’s no super easy to recognize red flag that sort of signals that there’s danger and that we ought to be aware there,” Villegas said. “These circumstances can occur very quickly and certainly shock many of us.”
The resolution, which was passed unanimously by the board, acknowledged that preventing child abuse and neglect is a “community issue” that is essential to creating productive and healthy adults.
Later in the meeting, the board received an update on child abuse and child abuse prevention in the county.
Karleen Jakowski, the chair of the Child Abuse Prevention Council appeared before the board Tuesday to deliver the council’s annual report. Jakowski opened her presentation noting that the vision of the CPAC is that “every child in Yolo County is safe and thrives.”
In the portion of her presentation on accomplishments of the CAPC over the last year, Jakowski said that the council has had regular meetings every other month, updated its action plan, held a special meeting in September on racial and ethnic disparities and distributed shaken baby abuse prevention materials to every family who had a new baby in Yolo County — amounting to approximately 1,900 babies.
The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly affected the number of reports of child abuse over the last year. The period of time between March and May of 2020 saw a decrease in reports of 40%.
“Throughout the pandemic, children have had less face-to-face interactions with and access to mandated reporters, such as teachers, and other school staff and medical providers,” Jakowski said. “In response, the CAPC adapted and shared resources on how to support the safety and wellbeing of children and families and how to report suspected child abuse and neglect.”
As part of their Child Abuse Prevention Month campaign, the CAPC has launched a new website titled Strong Families Yolo. Strong Families Yolo holds multiple resources for community members, including specific information for people in 15 different categories, such as parents, businesses, educators and faith-based organizations. Information can be translated into seven different languages.
“The hope here is that anyone in our community can go on the Strong Families Yolo website and find one or more sectors that identify with,” Jakowski said.
The council has also updated its child abuse reporting document. The six-page document titled “Child Abuse & Neglect: What it is and What to do About it” now includes information on the impact of bias in child abuse reporting.
Near the end of her presentation, Jakowski highlighted the importance of early education and childcare in Yolo County — two sectors that have decreased due to the pandemic.
Childcare in California has always been expensive, but the cost increased by approximately 47% in 2020.
In 2017, Yolo County lacked 3,570 licensed childcare slots for children aged 0 to 2. By 2021, the county lacked 3,934 licensed slots.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that quality childcare can improve children’s cognitive, socioemotional development,” Jakowski said. “And increase the likelihood that children will experience safe, stable and nurturing relationships and environments both in the childcare and education settings and at home.”
Because of the importance of quality childcare, the CAPC encouraged the board to: engage in conversations about childcare recovery, support familyfriendly work policies, support outreach and engagement to family, friend and neighbor providers, support universal basic income, incentivize new childcare businesses and advocate for funds to go into childcare for low-income and children of color.
The Woodland City Council on Tuesday passed a similar resolution, which was presented to Tracy Fauver, executive director of Yolo County CASA. Mayor Tom Stallard explained that Yolo CASA “pairs caring individuals with dependent children who are under the supervision of the courts.”
The city’s resolution, also highlighted Strong Families Yolo, “which is a new website that encourages everyone to see how we all play a part in caring for Yolo children and strengthening Yolo families, with hundreds of resources and practical ideas divided into 15 different roles, including business owners, family members, first responders, youth, neighbors, parents, child care providers and youth activity leaders.”
Fauver encouraged the public to visit strongfamiliesyolo.org to assist in “finding ways to support, finding ways to be the one to help support families to help support youth to really make those strong connections that are really the key difference.”
“We all have to step up and do what we can when we can, and that’s what this resource is intended to provide,” she added. “When we all work together, we can all thrive.”