COMMITTEE ON FAMILIES
MINUTES: JUNE 6, 2005
MEMBERS: CHAIR: Andrea Stewart-Cousins, LEGISLATORS: Lois Bronz, Ursula LaMotte, Vito Pinto
IN ATTENDANCE: CHILD CARE COUNCIL: Kathy Halles, JOURNAL NEWS: Laurie Nikolski, STAFF: Sally Schecter
The meeting was called to order at 9:40 a.m. Chair Andrea Stewart-Cousins said that Families has decided to do some outreach on the day-care situation by holding a forum in the north of the County at the Mt. Kisco Public Library and in the south of the County at the Riverfront Library in Yonkers. Families has held two meetings – one with the Department of Social Services and one with the providers for their input. The providers have indicated that DSS is willing to make changes and both groups feel that a forum would be helpful.
Kathy Halles felt it would be good for the committee to know what the number of families is that were on subsidy but are not longer because of failure to comply with the child care support requirements.
Chair Stewart-Cousins wanted to know if there was enough child care for infants around. Kathy Halles said statistically there is not but there are still programs for infants around. Child Care Council did a survey in the cities and in Yonkers, only 47% of the slots were full. Yonkers has 35,000 children from infancy to age 12 with 4800 regulated slots and only half of them are full.. The same is true in Ossining and Peekskill.
Legislator Pinto suggested sending out a survey to children and families to see what is happening. Kathy Halles said that a lot of providers are not doing outreach. Chair Stewart-Cousins said in the United Way report, it suggested that a large percentage of people were not near a day-care facility which might be the reason they are not utilizing the slots. Kathy Halles said it doesn’t take much income to not be eligible for a subsidy. The fund raising that the providers do is being used to help the people that are over income for a subsidy. Union Child Day care does aggressive fundraising, but very few of the providers do so and money from United Way has gone way down. The providers need someone to just do fundraising and know who they should go to. There is going to be a strategies group that will meet over the next year maybe 3 or 4 times for critical analysis of ideas and the Board of Legislators can send a representative.
Legislator LaMotte wanted to know how to do away with the fear factor and Kathy Halles responded that it was an educational process. Chair Stewart-Cousins that that is what the forum is meant to do. Possibly a quick synopsis of what to expect, when to apply, when to show-up, how long it takes, etc. – possibly a manual in English and Spanish. If it takes 30 days to be approved, and someone needs day care in September, they need to know they have to apply in July.
There will be a forum at the Mt. Kisco Library and one in Yonkers and it will be determined when as Legislator LaMotte will be away the early part of July. Kathy Halles will be on vacation July 17 to July 24.
Chair Stewart-Cousins thanked Kathy Halles and said she will be in touch when she starts working on the agenda.
Chair Stewart-Cousins mentioned that she was going to amend the Lagman resolution to include the other mother – Mrs. Palmer.
Chairman Stewart-Cousins described a situation about supervised visitation. She received a letter from a young woman who is the custodial parent. The baby’s father has the child one hour a week. When the grandfather picked up the child, he was bruised and when he asked about the bruises, the supervisor was very confrontational. The grandfather called Andrea Stewart-Cousins and she in turn called the District Attorney’s office. She was told to have the mother send a letter to the District Attorney’s office. Chair Stewart-Cousins has a copy but it is personal. She will edit it and share it with the Committee. The Family Court is in charge of supervised visitation. Chair Stewart-Cousins would like to know who supervises the supervisor. There are three or four agencies that the Family Court uses and are determined to be qualified through Judge Cooney after they make a presentation. Pamphlets are available in Family Court and that is how the young woman found the supervised visitation agency she used but they are only listed by a p.o. box. Chair Stewart-Cousins has a call into Judge Cooney.
On the motion of Legislator LaMotte, seconded by Legislator Bronz, the meeting was adjourned at 10:10 a.m.
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