SEIU Human Services Workers Stand Up for the Most Vulnerable

SEIU Human Services Workers Stand Up for the Most Vulnerable

On March 27, more than 70 SEIU human services providers, including eligibility workers, probation, children’s protective services, adult protective services and others took action to protect California’s most vulnerable populations in the budget fight. After sharing and learning about the budget and its effect on human services, the group hit the halls of the Capitol to tell legislators about the harm proposed budget cuts would do to their clients and communities.

Members of SEIU Locals 1021, 221, 521 and 721 attended the Human Services Industry Education and Action Day in Sacramento, from areas including the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Fresno, North Bay, South Bay, Salinas/Monterey, LA, Ventura, Riverside, and San Diego.

Tracey Boykins

As an eligibility worker, I help families who are destitute get what they need to survive: CalWORKS, food stamps, and MediCal. We alsoprovide homeless assistance and supportive services. I live in thecommunity; I’m part of it, so I don’t just enforce the rules. I understand and feel the families’ needs.

Cuts to these programs will be devastating to them from manyperspectives. Homelessness is already a big issue and growing. There will be more families on the street – and with cuts to MediCal will result in a lot more health issues – and increases in death andsickness among the people I serve. There will be increased malnutritionamong children who aren’t eating well, and there will be more crime,because parents will do what they have to do to put some food on the table.

We really have to revisit our priorities. What they’re proposing tocut are the necessities of life. It’s the children we’re looking at. Wehave to focus on them and keep them healthy, fed, and clothed. And iftheir parents don’t get the help they need, how are they going to help their children? If we don’t take care of the children now, what’s it going to cost us in the long run? Tracey Boykins - Eligibility Worker II, Los Angeles County DPSS - Local 721

As a children’s social worker, our primary responsibility is to protect children and make sure they have safe, permanent homes. Our system functions as the children’s parents while we help their parents recover, or find a family member or foster parents.

Cutting foster care reimbursements just puts another barrier up and will decrease the number of families able to afford to foster. More kids will become institutionalized instead of living with families and in their communities, and this creates a domino effect. Already, only2% of foster children end up graduating from college. These cuts will further limit the opportunities they’ll have down the road. We’re fighting for the children and families we serve. The children aren’t voters. They have no voice. They’re the most vulnerable members of our society. That’s why I became a social worker, and that’s why I’m fighting the budget cuts. We have to invest in the future of thesekids. It’s so important. We need to support and lift up these children because it makes our communities, cities, state, and nation a better place. There is no substitute for a happy, safe childhood with a permanent family. David Green - Adoption Social Worker, County of Los Angeles - Local 721