LA County Board

19. Strengthening Early Childhood Prevention and Family Stability Using the Superior Court of Los Angeles County’s Hope Court Program as a Model Recommendation as submitted by Supervisor Mitchell: Instruct the Director of Children and Family Services and the Acting Chief Executive Officer to work with the Executive Officer/Clerk of the Superior Court to assess ways the County can support the Helping Our Parents Excel (HOPE) Court model and assist the Superior Court of Los Angeles County (Court) should it choose to expand this innovative court model in other areas of the County and report back to the Board in writing in 90 days with a recommended support plan, prioritizing communities with: High rates of child welfare system involvement for infants and toddlers ages 0-3; Disproportionate representation of Black and Brown families; and Existing prevention, Family Maintenance, and Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) eligible caseloads. Instruct the Director of Children and Family Services, in collaboration with community-based organizations and faith partners, to develop and implement a strategy to expand culturally responsive, developmentally appropriate family time resources for HOPE Court-involved families including, but not limited to, the following: Supervised and supported family time services for infants and toddlers; Access to child-friendly, trauma-informed visitation spaces within community settings; Expanded evening and weekend visitation hours in locations accessible by public transportation; Transportation assistance, including rideshare vouchers, gas cards, and public transportation credit; Workforce capacity building for family time supervisors trained in infant-parent attachment and early childhood development who can provide real-time coaching during visits; Joint caregiver-parent training on trauma-informed care, developmental milestones, and communication strategies to reduce conflict and improve reunification outcomes; Provide caregiving essentials and culturally appropriate books available in multiple languages; and Implement tools to support communication and celebrate developmental milestones. Instruct the Director of Children and Family Services to report back to the Board in writing at or before recommended budget with a plan to leverage existing FFPSA and potential Flexible Family Support funds to implement the strategy proposed in Directive No. 2 within existing resources. Direct the Acting Chief Executive Officer to convene an interdepartmental HOPE Court Support Workgroup including, but not limited to, the Departments of Children and Family Services, Mental Health, Public Social Services, Economic Opportunity, and County Counsel, Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, Children’s Law Center, First 5 LA, and the Department of Health Services’ Court Pediatrician Program, and invite the Court’s participation in the workgroup, to: Develop a coordinated approach to support the HOPE Court model; Build data and evaluation systems to monitor outcomes; Align staffing, funding, data sharing, and service delivery across Departments; and identify opportunities to braid FFPSA, Flexible Family Support, prevention, and early childhood funding; and Identify additional areas in the County where County Departments and partner agencies could dedicate resources to support replication or expansion of the HOPE Court model. The Workgroup shall report back to the Board in writing in 90 days with recommendations, resource needs, proposed next steps, and milestones. Instruct all County Department Heads participating in HOPE Court implementation and support to center racial equity, family voice, and community partnership in program design and delivery, and to track outcomes disaggregated by race, ethnicity, age, and Supervisorial District to ensure equitable access and impact. Instruct the Director of Children and Family Services, in partnership with the Court, to strengthen and standardize implementation of the HOPE Court Team approach, including: Training for attorneys, social workers, and service providers on infant mental health, early attachment, and trauma-informed practices; Embedding multidisciplinary team staffing and case consultation models; Ensuring frequent, meaningful parent-child visitation as a core practice expectation; and Establishing shared outcome measures focused on child safety, family stability, timely reunification, and prevention of re-entry into care. Departments Heads shall identify existing resources and partnership opportunities to support implementation without disrupting current HOPE Court operations, and the Director of Children and Family Services shall report back to the Board in writing within 120 days on the progress. (26-1207)