Date: 10/26/2015
Final
Public Comment
EARLY CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL READINESS
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02:14 PM -- Public Comment
The committee recessed.
02:25 PM
The committee came back to order. Sharon Knight, representing Warren Village, spoke about her organization and its work with homeless families. She talked about domestic violence and how women leave their homes without identification. She described how children are severely impacted and gave an example of a boy, age 3.5, with no language skills, having angry outbursts, and a mother who was raised in poverty so that the child experienced trauma in utero, and then the child was diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome. She stated that if children do not get the services they need, the cycle will perpetuate itself. She said that children need to be in high-quality care and spoke about the impact of the disruption of services when people have to leave one county for another to find housing or work. She discussed pockets of poverty, where there is a correlation to low-performing schools. She asked legislators to look at domestic violence and childhood trauma in a holistic fashion. Representative Singer asked about waivers and about county case managers. Ms. Knight responded that case management is inconsistent and that there is probably a lack of training and a lack of understanding of regulations and rules.