COUNTYWIDE : Lacey Is Invited to Address House Panel

Ventura County Supervisor Susan K. Lacey has been invited to speak next week on Ventura County’s child welfare programs before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on human resources in Washington, D.C.

The March 19 hearing before the Subcommittee on Human Resources is the first in a series of hearings on the nation’s child welfare system, Lacey said.

The supervisor said she was chosen to represent the National Assn. of Counties because she has led several task forces involving child welfare issues.

In addition, she said, the subcommittee is interested in hearing about Ventura County’s cost-effective child welfare program, which combines the services of local school, probation and mental health officials.

“This first hearing will provide subcommittee members an opportunity to review trends in spending and caseloads for the federal foster care program, to examine federal funding incentives for various child welfare activities and to evaluate the overall state of state and local child welfare systems,” she said.