Existing law requires the state, through the State Department of Social Services and county welfare departments, to establish and support a public system of statewide child welfare services, which is defined to mean public social services that are directed toward the accomplishment of specified purposes, including protecting and promoting the welfare of all children and preventing the unnecessary separation of children from their families.
This bill would authorize a county child welfare agency to establish a pilot program in which the county employs a domestic violence consultant to offer support and guidance to county social workers in addressing the complex dynamics of families who are potentially experiencing both domestic violence and child maltreatment in order to enhance the social worker's knowledge of domestic violence and their ability to apply that knowledge to their work with parent survivors and their children through tailored engagement and intervention strategies. The bill would require a domestic violence consultant under the program to assist county social workers by providing education on domestic violence-related dynamics and services and discussing complicating factors and protective measures, as specified, among other things.