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Phase 3 Acknowledgements
This
report on Phase 3 of the Children of Color study could not have been
completed without the important contributions of so many people.
We wish to thank the former
Director of Santa Clara County Social Services Agency, Yolanda Rinaldo,
the initiator of an important discussion with Dr. Sylvia R. Andrew, the
Dean of the College of Social Work at San José State University, about
the possibility of a joint research project with the Agency and the
College.
Thank you to Leroy Martin,
former Director of the Department of Family and Children’s Services, who
provided valuable oversight for the research project until his retirement
and to Norma Doctor Sparks, current Director of the Department of Family
and Children’s Services. Many
thanks also to Will Lightbourne, Director, County of Santa Clara, Social
Services Agency.
We would also like to thank
Zonia Sandoval Waldon, Deputy Director of the Department of Family and
Children’s Services for her assistance throughout the third year of the
project. Thank you also to Ken Borelli, Sue Farr and Connie Vega.
Judi Boring and her staff,
David Heinen and Yvonne Zing, were especially helpful with providing
access to the CWS/CMS system and arranging for the data set that was used
in this report. Thanks also
to Diana Weir and her staff who were responsible for gathering the
additional CWS/CMS data for Phase 3.
Judy Bushey was extremely helpful in guiding us through the court
report sections of the child welfare case records. Thank you to Stan Lee
and his staff who provided valuable training on the court report section
of the child welfare case records and to Maria Gonzalez who made the case
records available for coding.
Our special thanks to Dean Sylvia R. Andrew who provided members of the
research team with the precious resource of matched release time.
Thank you also to Simon Dominguez for his valuable feedback and
encouragement.
The completion of Phase 3 was also made possible by our talented and
dedicated student research assistants: Lisa Navarrette, Priscilla Ribeiro,
and Graciela Escobar. Their work on the qualitative focus groups and
supervisor interviews was truly invaluable. Bernard Voon, who worked as a
student research assistant for Phase 2 of the research project, generously
returned to help with supplemental case record reviews in Phase 3 as a
volunteer. Each of our student assistants brought noteworthy enthusiasm,
dedication and insight to the project. Their substantial contributions are
deeply appreciated.
In addition, this research could not have been carried out without the
cooperation of the staff of the agency, and we would like to acknowledge
the importance of the contributions of everyone who took the time to
attend focus groups, participate in individual interviews, or assist in
organizing staff and family focus groups.
A special thank you to all the child welfare directors and
administrators who took the time to participate in our statewide survey on
effective practices for families and children of color.
Their contributions were extremely valuable.
Thanks to Shaaron Gilson for her assistance as Project
Manager and for her thoughtful comments on an initial draft of the report
and to Carol Pearce for her assistance with the statewide survey and the
case record review data collection.
Thank you to Jerri Carmo, Juliana Brooks, Bill Yabumoto and
the staff at the San Jose State Foundation for their help in administering
this important project.
Finally, we would like to thank the Santa Clara County
Board of Supervisors, especially Blanca Alvarado and James Beall for their
ongoing support of the Children of Color study and their commitment to
improving child welfare practices for children and families in the system.
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