Editorial 08.15.06
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When children have nowhere else to turn
Index-Tribune staff writer Emily Setzer described the effects of methamphetamine use in Sonoma Valley in detail last month. The most disturbing part of Setzer's "meth" series was the account of what happens to the children of drug abusers. In one example she described the case of a 34-year-old mother of a 9-year-old girl, in which the deputy arrests the woman and arranges for the girl to be taken to the Valley of the Moon Children's Home.
The girl is just one of the many children of substance-abusing adults placed in the home built at the north end of Sonoma Valley at Los Guillicos. Recently, the home has been swamped with the children of meth abusers. Half of the 100 court-filed petitions to remove children from their homes received by the Valley of the Moon Children's Home from September 2005 to February 2006 involved meth-related incidents. Ten of those incidents involved children under 18 months. In January alone, 18 of 32 filed petitions were meth-related. Setzer talked to the counselors at the home who see firsthand the devastating effect that parental drug abuse has on these children. They try to make sure the children aren't shuffled from foster care to the home and back, but the volume is growing, and the children hardly have a chance for a normal life.
Some of these children no longer have a home. They have no mother, father, grandparent, brother or sister to take them in. In some cases, the only parent they've ever known has abandoned them or is serving time in jail or a drug rehabilitation program.
It is for these and other frightened and lonely kids that the Valley of the Moon Children's Home was established. The home provides a safe haven run by childcare professionals and counselors. Here the children can find some security, stability and a caring person with a shoulder to cry on. It is in this home that they will stay until a suitable foster-care home can be found for them. In 2005 the first two of three wings of a brand-new children's home were completed, thanks to a team effort that included Sonoma County, the state of California and millions in donations raised by a small but determined group of volunteers who formed the Valley of the Moon Children's Home Foundation. Many of its founders and supporters are residents of Sonoma Valley. Although the new home is open and accepting children, it is not complete. In fact, funding from government sources is so short that volunteers continually solicit support for even small things like kitchen implements and tableware. Sadly, more government funds go to jails and detention facilities than to those dedicated to caring for innocent victims.
The Valley of the Moon Children's Home Foundation is still working hard to raise money to finish the home and to fully equip it. Like the children they care for, the volunteers have nowhere else to turn except a caring and generous community. They need you to remember the county's most vulnerable children.
Send donations to Valley of the Moon Children's Foundation, P.O. Box 11671, Santa Rosa, CA 95406. For more information, call the foundation at 546-8383, or go to their Web site at vomchildrensfoundation.org.
- Bill Lynch, Editor
Index-Tribune staff writer Emily Setzer described the effects of methamphetamine use in Sonoma Valley in detail last month. The most disturbing part of Setzer's "meth" series was the account of what happens to the children of drug abusers. In one example she described the case of a 34-year-old mother of a 9-year-old girl, in which the deputy arrests the woman and arranges for the girl to be taken to the Valley of the Moon Children's Home.
The girl is just one of the many children of substance-abusing adults placed in the home built at the north end of Sonoma Valley at Los Guillicos. Recently, the home has been swamped with the children of meth abusers. Half of the 100 court-filed petitions to remove children from their homes received by the Valley of the Moon Children's Home from September 2005 to February 2006 involved meth-related incidents. Ten of those incidents involved children under 18 months. In January alone, 18 of 32 filed petitions were meth-related. Setzer talked to the counselors at the home who see firsthand the devastating effect that parental drug abuse has on these children. They try to make sure the children aren't shuffled from foster care to the home and back, but the volume is growing, and the children hardly have a chance for a normal life.
Some of these children no longer have a home. They have no mother, father, grandparent, brother or sister to take them in. In some cases, the only parent they've ever known has abandoned them or is serving time in jail or a drug rehabilitation program.
It is for these and other frightened and lonely kids that the Valley of the Moon Children's Home was established. The home provides a safe haven run by childcare professionals and counselors. Here the children can find some security, stability and a caring person with a shoulder to cry on. It is in this home that they will stay until a suitable foster-care home can be found for them. In 2005 the first two of three wings of a brand-new children's home were completed, thanks to a team effort that included Sonoma County, the state of California and millions in donations raised by a small but determined group of volunteers who formed the Valley of the Moon Children's Home Foundation. Many of its founders and supporters are residents of Sonoma Valley. Although the new home is open and accepting children, it is not complete. In fact, funding from government sources is so short that volunteers continually solicit support for even small things like kitchen implements and tableware. Sadly, more government funds go to jails and detention facilities than to those dedicated to caring for innocent victims.
The Valley of the Moon Children's Home Foundation is still working hard to raise money to finish the home and to fully equip it. Like the children they care for, the volunteers have nowhere else to turn except a caring and generous community. They need you to remember the county's most vulnerable children.
Send donations to Valley of the Moon Children's Foundation, P.O. Box 11671, Santa Rosa, CA 95406. For more information, call the foundation at 546-8383, or go to their Web site at vomchildrensfoundation.org.
- Bill Lynch, Editor
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| Beyond the Vale 08.15.06 |
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