CFS’s Collaboration with Fontana Police Department on Child Welfare

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

San Bernardino County Children and Family Services (CFS) protects endangered children, preserves and strengthens their families, and develops alternative family settings. As part of its mission, CFS initiated a collaborative pilot project with the Fontana Police Department (PD) to improve child welfare in the City. Fontana is one of 24 cities in San Bernardino County served by CFS, and its Police Department submits a considerably large number of child abuse and neglect referrals to CFS. The focus of the collaboration is to take preventive measures to proactively intervene in child safety matters and thereby prevent situations that will result in full-fledged child abuse and neglect. In addition to promoting the safety of children and the well-being of families, the collaborative initiative is aimed at streamlining the number of child abuse and neglect referrals being sent by Law Enforcement (LE) to CFS through the Child and Adult Abuse Hotline (CAAHL) for investigation. This collaboration provides a forum to discuss and address systemic issues, develop a tracking system for measurable outcomes, streamline referrals being called in, and track substantiation rates and the number of joint crisis intervention calls that did not result in a referral to CAAHL.