The San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed Tuesday to add four voting members to the Child and Family Strengthening Advisory Board.
Board Vice Chairman Greg Cox and his colleague Nathan Fletcher proposed the additions to include “voices of those most impacted,” Cox said.
The additions will bring the total number of Advisory Board members to 25, including one from San Pasqual Academy and another from the A.B. and Jessie Polinsky Children’s Center.
Fletcher said he and his colleagues heard from community members, and are grateful for their input.
“We’ll have a stronger and healthier board,” Fletcher added.
Supervisors also directed Chief Administrative Officer Helen Robbins-Meyer to amend an existing ordinance so the Advisory Board can formally add the four members.
Robbins-Meyer will return to Board of Supervisors on Aug. 6 for the first reading of the ordinance, which supervisors are expected to adopt at their Sept. 10 meeting.
Before the vote, the board heard from several people advocating for improvements in the foster care system.
Ellen Nash, who said she was a foster parent for more than 25 years, told the supervisors the system has let down children and urged the Advisory Board to include former foster youth, “because they are the individuals at the center of this equation.”
The Advisory Board needs to look at the entire system, “map it out and fill in the gaps,” Nash said, “to make sure children leave the system equipped and ready to enter the San Diego community.”
— City News Service
