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A core group within the council began immediately to address the current lack of appropriate services within the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services (today called the Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS). Due to the lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate and affirmative services, families with deaf members were often poorly treated and either ignored or treated harshly by case workers who had no knowledge of deafness or the associated communication needs. The council began collecting data to present to DCFS administrators. This data clearly demonstrated the lack of services. The Council proposed a solution, which was for the department to establish a specialized Deaf Unit along the lines of other county-wide specialized units, such as the Native American Unit and the Fragile Children’s Unit which also addressed the needs of special populations successfully. We brought to these meetings collected information, such as the number of Deaf people in the county, an estimated number of Deaf children, and an estimate of how many Deaf children would need DCFS services. Also included within this information were examples of specific failed cases involving Deaf people who were poorly treated by the Social Workers without specific training in working with this population. This was enough to get the attention of the highest-ranking administrators at DCFS and to secure their commitment to begin to establish a Deaf Unit. An experienced individual was appointed to head this unit. This individual knew how to establish the unit within the department but needed our input regarding Deaf issues and the best ways to approach these needs. We assisted in making a survey that they sent to hundreds of children’s Social Workers to actually find all the current cases opened involving a deaf child or adult. Responses indicated that about 100 cases existed. (Today, nearly nine years later, the number is closer to 500.) After this initial success, the Council turned its attention to a new problem which came to its attention: inappropriate treatment of Deaf children who were removed from their parents and placed in protective custody at the county operated children’s shelter, also operated by DCFS. These children were not supplied with simple things such as telecommunication access, interpreters or signing staff after school hours, captioned television, visual fire alarms, and other legally mandated accommodations. The Council filed a Section 504 complaint against the county facility. County administrators who operated the shelter denied any failures and were resistant to making any changes until they were contacted by federal investigators. They then worked hard to make changes before an actual federal inspection to evaluate the issues. Fortunately, shelter administrators and staff made all the necessary changes and avoided federal penalties or bad press. (It is interesting to note that the facility was closed two years ago due to gross non-compliance of state mandates for the operation of group homes, even after it had been given several years to make necessary changes and failed to do so.) The council members were very pleased with these successes. They noted significant improvement in the way Deaf children and adults were treated and how their cases were managed by the new county wide Deaf Unit, and the improvements seen at the county children’s shelter. The council also actively encouraged local agencies to provide improved foster care for Deaf children. Finally, the Council developed liaisons with other child abuse councils within the county. Today, the Council continues to be a resource to many with respect to avoiding discrimination to Deaf children within county protective services. |
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