Amador County proclaims April 2025 Child Abuse Prevention Month after First 5 and CPS presentations

The Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution proclaiming April 2025 as Amador County Child Abuse Prevention Month after presentations from First 5 Amador and county child-protective services staff.

First 5 Executive Director Nina Machado introduced Gina Whitaker, the Child Abuse Prevention Council coordinator, and noted partnerships that provide visitation and family supports. Child Protective Services emergency response supervisor Angie Richards and social workers described local statistics: as of February 2024 there were 6,295 children under age 18 in the county; 578 child-abuse and neglect reports were made to the agency in that period (including multiple reports per child); 52 children were found to have been abused or neglected; 31 children were declared juvenile-court dependents; 24 children were placed in out-of-home care for the first time; 57 children in total entered out-of-home care in the referenced period.

Placement types reported included 32 children placed in licensed foster-family agency homes, 21 placed with relatives or close family friends and four placed in residential treatment homes. The presenters said 13 children had been reunified with parents and seven achieved permanency via adoption or legal guardianship in 2024. Child Protective Services staff described goals for 2025 including improved tribal coordination, a community response pathway for at-risk families, strengthening natural supports and expanding supervised visit settings at First 5 learning spaces.

After the presentations the Board read and adopted a resolution that proclaims April as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Amador County. The motion to adopt the resolution passed on a roll-call vote 5-0.

Ending: Supervisors invited community organizations to continue collaboration and endorsed prevention, training and community resource efforts highlighted by First 5 and CPS.