New hope for children living in unstable homes

A child in Sonoma County lives in an unstable and potentially unsafe home. One or both of the parents has addiction problems. Food is sometimes scarce. Medical needs are unmet.

Now, a court-ordered remedy called legal guardianship is gaining traction for its less-stringent requirements than the county’s child protective services, where in some cases county officials legally remove a child from a home.

Legal guardianship is a remedy officials and legal experts say will increasingly play an important role in the ongoing effort to overhaul California’s foster care system. That reform seeks to end institutional care such as group homes and instead place kids in a family setting, whether it’s with the parents with county support, extended family members or trusted nonrelatives.

In addition, at a time when the nation’s opioid epidemic is ravaging families and local communities, legal guardianships can offer a less heart-wrenching route to keeping children safe.

Ronit Rubinoff, executive director of Legal Aid of Sonoma County, calls those who step up and care for a child not their own “heroes,” whether teachers, neighbors or a private citizen filing for the legal custodial arrangement. The selfless action often keep kids out of the foster care system, Rubinoff said.

Foster cases are often confrontational, polari ing and deeply frightening to parents, she said.

“It’s a more flexible remedy and parents are often more willing to agree to something like a probate guardianship because its not necessarily permanent,” said Rubinoff.

Legal guardianships usually come into play before situations become too dangerous for the child; the county steps in and removes youths if there is evidence of neglect or abuse.

Rubinoff said the “most common denominator” in the guardianship cases filed by Legal Aid is drug use by the parent or parents, which interferes significantly in their ability to care for their children.

The stories are heartbreaking, such as the 4-year-old girl left with a stranger in a local park. The mother never returned and the stranger eventually brought the child to her church, where a couple took the girl in and obtained guardianship.

In another case, Rubinoff said the mother of a 2-year-old boy named Sammy threatened to drown him.

Eventually her neglect led to the boy getting an ear infection that went untreated.

Rubinoff said a “good Samaritan” took the child in and when the mother asked for the boy’s return, the caregiver petitioned for and was given legal guardianship.

“Sammy had the ear operation, started speaking, gained weight (and) turned into a healthy child,” Rubinoff said.

She said questions about legal guardianship are increasingly being asked by members of the local immigrant community, which has grown fearful of stepped up deportations under the Trump administration. In one case, she said, a man was suddenly deported, leaving behind his young child. With the help of Legal Aid, the man’s girlfriend became the child’s guardian.

“Fears of deportation caused panic in this community,” Rubinoff wrote in an email. “Folks were afraid that CPS would immediately take their children if they were detained and that they would lose rights to their children.”

Rubinoff said Legal Aid has conducted workshops around the county to educate immigrants about their rights and help them make “legal plans” for their children’s care.

Nick Honey, director of the county’s Family, Youth and Children’s Services Division, said in some cases legal guardianships give rights to those already caring for a child, such as a grandparent or extended relative.

“Let’s say the mom comes back and says she wants to take them. It means they can say ‘no’ to a parent when they show up,” Honey said.

Guardianships allow the caregiver to sign such things as permission slips for school trips or obtain the child’s medical information and approve treatment.

“It gives the caregivers some control and it’s good for the kids because it gives them stability,” Honey said.

“Sometimes they end up adopting the child or children. It means that children stay with their family or kin. If we can help support that without being involved in the child welfare system, it’s to everyone’s benefit.”

Honey said last year in 93 percent of CPS investigations into reports of abuse or neglect, the child was allowed to stay at home after the county provided support and services. Only in ?7 percent of cases where county social workers found children were at-risk did the county recommend children be removed and placed in foster care.

CPS contracts with Legal Aid to help caregivers through the legal process of guardianship. Rubinoff said Legal Aid receives about $60,000 annually from the county to provide this assistance. She said the county contract only covers about half the cost of Legal Aid’s Child Abuse Prevention Program, which helps caregivers petition for legal guardianship.

In these cases Legal Aid works in tandem with Lilliput Children’s Services in Santa Rosa, a nonprofit specializing in foster care and adoption service.

The Sonoma County Probate Court, which hears and decides on legal guardianship petitions, processes about 100 such filings a year.

Renee Tapia, a social worker with Lilliput Children’s Services, said in Sonoma County many children end up staying with their legal guardians for a long period of time.

Tapia said Lilliput operates a Kinship Center, where a “parent partner” assists caregivers through the guardianship process. She said the process is not always easy, and the biological parent and immediate family members must be notified of the process. The child’s parents can contest the process, she said, but often all parties come to an agreement.

“As a community, it’s everyone’s responsibility to try to keep our children safe,” Tapia said. “When a parent for whatever reason is not able to do that and someone else needs to step in to keep that child safe, they often need the protection of that legal authority ... without that there is often an excessive amount of instability for that child.”