Countywide : Youth Policy to Be Subject of Meeting

One of 12 summits on youth policy to be held throughout the state has been scheduled in Orange County next month and will focus on lifting the “red tape” that often gets in the way of helping children.

The summit, organized by several agencies dealing with children, will be held Feb. 21 in Anaheim. A location will be announced later, said Luis Rendon, executive assistant to Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder.

In anticipation of the session, leaders are inviting anyone interested in children’s issues to attend a planning meeting Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. in the Multi-Service Center, 17200 Jamboree Road, Irvine. That meeting will decide the agenda for Orange County’s summit, Rendon said.

The summits are designed to help county, city and school officials figure out where the legal system creates obstacles in delivering services to children. For example, sometimes laws protecting the identity of a minor can keep valuable services from getting to a child when another agency is forced to withhold that child’s identity, Rendon said.

Agencies also need to reduce the duplication of services that often is the result of not knowing the identities of certain children, Rendon said.

“They’re trying to come up with a policy whereas they can make it easy for different agencies to work together, such as schools working with counties working with the day-care agencies,” he said. “If we can make it easier for those agencies to reach those children, they could get to them faster.”

The goal of the 12 summits will be to develop models of local programs that work and then present a report on the need for a state youth policy to Gov. Pete Wilson and the Legislature.