Fostering better treatment
After a Chronicle investigation into the unnecessary arrests of traumatized children in California’s foster care shelters and residential facilities, state Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson (Los Angeles County), introduced a bill last week that will set limits on this dangerous and destabilizing practice.
Gipson’s AB2605 bill would create a three-year moratorium on law enforcement calls by foster care facilities for nonemergency behavioral management situations.
Facilities would also be required to change their emergency intervention plans to offer specific guidance on behavioral management and on when and when not to call law enforcement. (Mandated reporting, including instances of child abuse, is not affected by AB2605.)
As The Chronicle’s investigation showed, California’s foster care shelters and residential facilities were relying far too heavily on law enforcement to cope with minor behavioral problems, like emotional outbursts or scuffles on the lawn.
Criminalizing children for such small misdeeds — especially in light of the fact that most of these children are suffering from trauma — is more than unfair and unnecessary. It’s an aggressive act that can potentially derail their futures.
“Having served in law enforcement, I have seen how young people get trapped in the juvenile justice system because of minor incidents charged against them,” Gipson said in a statement. “These youth have faced significant trauma in their lifetimes and deserve better than to be sent to juvenile hall as a time-out.”
It’s not easy to care for the children in these facilities. They often show up at the centers having already faced significant trauma within their home environments or previous placements. But police are trained to control situations, not to manage emotional volatility. Foster children involved with the juvenile justice system face serious obstacles when it comes to education and other critical metrics for future success.
Law enforcement should be a matter of last, not first, resort for caregivers at these facilities.
AB2605 is sponsored by San Francisco’s Youth Law Center and supported by Oakland’s National Center for Youth Law.
State Sen. Jim Beall, DSan Jose, has expressed interest in co-sponsoring the measure. We urge the Bay Area’s other representatives in Sacramento to consider how they can support the bill as well.