Through an unintended coincidence of related resolutions and reports, the April 7 Lancaster County commissioners meeting ended up centering on the topic of protecting some of the county’s most vulnerable residents—namely, its children. With a proclamation of child abuse prevention month, the passage of an initiative toward more available housing for homeless families, and a report on the state of homelessness in Lancater County, Commissioner Craig Lehman noted that the meeting had taken on a definite “theme.”
“Sometimes we have meetings where there is a theme,” Lehman said, “It seems like we’re focusing on children today in two very important ways: Trying to prevent child abuse and trying to make sure that families who have children have a permanent place to live and can get their feet back on the ground.”
The meeting began with a proclamation of “Child Abuse Prevention Month” for April 2010 in Lancaster County. The proclamation noted that over 830 cases of suspected child abuse were investigated in the county last year, while many more instances of abuse likely went unreported.
“Unfortunately, many times those victims repeat the cycle as they grow,” said Crystal Gingrich, executive director of Lancaster County’s Children and Youth agency, “So it’s vital that we work in partnership with one another to protect families, partner with families, and reach out to those who have children to make sure that we’re providing all that they need so that the children can grow up to be healthy, vital members of society.”
Commissioner Dennis Stuckey said that “as a grandparent of two children, you see how truly vulnerable and dependent they are on us….And to think that ‘grown-ups’ would hurt or abuse them just doesn’t sit well in the heart. So I’m very proud to sign this proclamation.”
The commissioners later voted to adopt a new condition to persuade developers using public affordable housing grants in Lancaster to set aside 10% of their projects to serve homeless families. Regarding this resolution, Commissioner Lehman noted that “When you talk about families, you’re also talking about children who are homeless…And it is really the children that would be the greatest beneficiary of this type of program.”
Also at the meeting, community homeless advisor Kay Moshier McDivitt (pictured) reported the results of the Lancaster County Coalition to End Homeless “One Day Homeless Count,” which was conducted in January for this year. The total count of individuals living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, or simply unsheltered dropped by 2% in comparison to the previous year. This was first recorded drop since 1994, when the annual count was initiated.
According to McDivitt, the resulting numbers should demonstrate a balanced “apples to apples” comparison with the previous year, and if anything, would presumably be higher for 2010 with the continued wake of recession. The 2010 count was the first to be conducted after the coalition adopted it’s ten year plan to end homelessness in Lancaster County.
While proud to report the 2% total drop, McDivitt acknowledged that there remains much work to be done in serving homeless children. In 2010, the number of children counted in emergency shelters or transitional housing increased to 191 from 2009’s 178., There were, however, no children found unsheltered this year, whereas two were counted in 2009.
