Children’s Summit Is Only a First Step : * Follow-Up Interagency Cooperation Is Now Needed

Like motherhood and apple pie, the idea of cities, counties and schools working together on behalf of children is something everyone can endorse. Of course, agencies serving children should be cooperating--or, in the latest lingo, “collaborating.” But far too often structure overrules common sense.

Saddled with bureaucratic red tape and squeezed by funding shortages, services have become so compartmentalized that they consistently fail to meet the needs of individual children.

Last week’s Orange County Children’s Summit--called to address these issues--was important because it provided a rare occasion for local leaders to brainstorm about ways to better cooperate to serve children. The 118 city, school and county leaders who attended the summit, which is one of 12 being staged across the state, deserve credit for tackling the daunting problems of how to redirect their agencies for this purpose.

The question is: Will the local summit end up being merely a one-day “feel-good” conference? Or will it result in healthier and better educated children in this county? The leaders gathered at Cal State Fullerton for the summit have it within their power to build on what was started, or drop the ball.

The summit wasn’t always pleasant. In general sessions and workshops, participants tangled over how to define the problems of children, and what to do about them. There was grandstanding. There were misunderstandings. There was tedious list-making of the many obstacles to working together, such as the state’s confidentiality laws. At one point, one frustrated county administrator, complaining about “over-control” by the state, said he wished the state would just “give us the money, go away, and let us do it.”

But, by the day’s end, there was also a tangible spirit of cooperation.

The Children’s Summits, which bring together elective leaders and high-ranking school, city and county administrators, have two goals: to gather information for Gov. Pete Wilson for possible legislation to clear the way for interagency cooperation, and to provide a spark for local cooperation on a continuing basis. The summits are sponsored by the California School Boards Assn., California State Assn. of Counties and the League of California Cities.

Maureen DiMarco, the governor’s secretary of child development and education (and, incidentally, a former school board member in Garden Grove), said that the summits aren’t “the magical thing that (can) suddenly change the world.” But she said they can lay groundwork for better use of resources for children.

There are three good examples in Orange County of interagency cooperation. They are Oak View Elementary School in the Ocean View School District in Huntington Beach, a community mental health program based in the Capistrano Unified School District, and Child Abuse Services Team, which last week opened a second site in Orange County. All offer a multidisciplinary approach to problems of children, and all are worthy. But, as one summit participant asked: Why only three?

One of the reasons has been a lack of leadership. To his credit, even in difficult budgetary times, Gov. Pete Wilson made a commitment--backed up by $20 million in the current budget--to foster integrated projects. The money will provide grants to localities for social services and health programs for parents and children on school sites.

While it may contain the workings of plain, old-fashioned cooperation, “collaboration” is the wave of the future. Orange County must be ready to catch that wave.