Making a Difference In Your Community : Helping Take Care of the Caretaker

In some cases, an old bicycle, refrigerator or box of used clothes can make the difference between putting kids in foster care and keeping a family intact.

In a novel approach that aims to ease the burden of social workers and help heal the emotional scars of abused children, the Valley Interfaith Council has initiated the Adopt a Child Abuse Caseworker program, which matches county Department of Children’s Services caseworkers with volunteers from Valley congregations. The volunteers meet with caseworkers and assess their needs, then solicit donations of anything from bicycles to prom dresses from congregation members.

“If an intake worker has a family with three or four children sharing a bed, which is against DCS regulations, rather than separate the family by bringing them into the system, they can go to the congregation’s liaison to try and come up with a bed,” explained Winifred Jones, who coordinates the program for the Valley Interfaith Council.

Six Valley congregations--Temple Ahavat Shalom in Northridge, the Bahai’s of Los Angeles, the First Presbyterian Church of Granada Hills, St. Stephen Presbyterian Church in Chatsworth, Central Lutheran Church of Van Nuys and Temple Judea of Tarzana--have adopted caseworkers since the program was initiated in January, Jones said.

“Our goal is to add 12 congregations per year,” said Jones. There are 122 social workers in DCS region 5, which stretches from Pasadena to Agoura and from Mulholland Drive to Lancaster. There are seven regions throughout the county. Jones says 16 caseworkers are ready to join the program, and she hopes to match all of them with congregations by year’s end.

The Valley program is funded by two foundation grants.

“The workers are overloaded and they don’t have a lot of time to meet the desperate needs of so many families here in Los Angeles,” Jones said. “If a social worker is taking four to five hours to locate a bed, that’s ridiculous. We can take some of the pressure off of them.”

In the program’s very first match, an abused girl wanted a dress, a doll and a backpack. Her family had no means of providing them, so the congregation did.

Another congregation provided bicycles to a boy and girl whose parents sold theirs to buy drugs.

“Not only are we able to provide to the families what would seem to be simple things that are beyond their reach, but the social workers make them aware that they are being provided these things by a congregation in the community,” said DCS deputy regional administrator Evelyn Syvertsen. “Connection with the community in which they live is essential. It shows there are people who are concerned who are willing to provide help without intruding on their privacy.”

Until more caseworkers are adopted, Syvertsen says, those that have been matched with congregations share their newfound resource with other social workers.

Lana McGinnis, a social worker who was adopted by St. Stephen Presbyterian Church, says plans are afoot to have volunteers take kids on field trips or to ballgames, but legal questions have to be worked out before they get that segment of the program operational.

In the meantime, she says, the Adopt a Child Abuse Caseworker program is going a long way to “expose people in the San Fernando Valley to the fact that there is a large segment of the population that is needy and children who have suffered through no fault of their own.”

For more information on the Adopt a Child Abuse Caseworker program, call Jones at (818) 718-6460.

* Wise Senior Services (800-334-9473) needs volunteers to act as ombudsmen who will represent residents of nursing homes and other board-and-care facilities. Volunteers help resolve problems of abuse, residents rights and medical care. Training is provided.

Getting Involved is a weekly listing of volunteering opportunities. Please address prospective listings to Getting Involved, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, 91311. Or fax them to (818) 772-3338.