“If they’re not regulated, there’s not accountability,” said Steve Baron, a member of the county’s Child Abuse Prevention Council.
Santa Clara County Social Services Agency Director Dan Little, right, gives a presentation with Damion Wright, second from right, director of the Department of Family and Children’s Services, defending their family preservation policies during a Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors meeting in San Jose, Calif., on Dec. 19, 2023.
But Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, who’s taken strong stands concerning vulnerable children and recently charged a couple with murder after their child overdosed on fentanyl at their house, told the Bay Area News Group he’s eyeing the situation closely. In Santa Clara County, however, private providers either couldn’t meet the state requirements or backed out of providing such services, and the county didn’t develop any of its own. Instead, without enough willing foster families, the county leased private homes around the county, called scattered sites, and without state approval opened them to the most troubled youth.
But the threat spurred the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services to file paperwork to formally license three remaining scattered sites in San Jose and Morgan Hill. After a visit last month by a state inspector, they are in the final stages of becoming licensed. It’s unclear how much more patience authorities will have. The state Department of Social Services said in a statement to this news organization that it “has not issued fines and continues to work with the county.”
“If they’re not regulated, there’s not accountability,” said Steve Baron, a member of the county’s Child Abuse Prevention Council who still holds the state largely responsible for the housing shortage crisis. “I don’t know how they got away with it for so long, except they’ve got nowhere to put these kids.”
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