The San Bernardino County grand jury issued its annual report on
July 1. Consisting of citizen volunteers, the grand jury is tasked with the
responsibility to investigate and review issues pertaining to local governments
throughout the county.
San Bernardino County’s child welfare system received
considerable scrutiny by the grand jury. Recommending over a dozen reforms to
the Department of Children and Family Services, the panel found a need for
better communication between CFS and law enforcement, as well as a need for
more training of social workers.
According to the grand jury, based on interviews with law
enforcement officials, CFS social workers “frequently do not return phone calls
from law enforcement.” Additionally, the grand jury reported that CFS social
workers engage in practices that hinder and delay law enforcement
investigations, including contacting persons of interest before law enforcement
can do so.
The grand jury report comes just over a week after the
California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Children’s Justice announced it
was investigating San Bernardino County’s “compliance with California laws
intended to ensure the safety and well-being of children, including children in
the dependency system.”
Less controversially, the grand jury called for a task force to
sort out the reasons for the high turnover among county social workers. It’s
imperative the county’s child welfare system gets the attention and scrutiny it
deserves.
The grand jury also sought to determine whether there was a
backlog of rape kits and, if so, how to address it.
Though state law recommends law enforcement agencies submit
sexual assault forensic evidence to crime labs within 20 days, the county
hasn’t followed these guidelines. The grand jury suggests the county do so and
contract out testing services at public and private labs in the county. This is
responsible.
Another issue addressed by the grand jury is the treatment of
transgender students in local schools. It found that local school districts
haven’t had many problems with acceptance, or at least tolerance of, such
students. And it called for task forces to protect the students and convert as
many bathrooms to unisex bathrooms “as possible.” The latter suggestion
warrants careful deliberation by local districts, given the likely costs of
doing so, without any clear evidence such a mass conversion is needed.
July 7, 2016
The Press-Enterprise
By Russell Boniface
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