Council Legislation

Proposed Resolution No. R2019-15

Title: A Resolution of the Pierce County Council Expressing Its Intent to Prioritize Prenatal-to-Three Policies, Best Practices and Cross Coordination to Improve Child and Family Outcomes in Pierce County. (Prenatal-to-Three Policies)

Status: Passed

Sponsors: Councilmembers Derek Young, Connie Ladenburg

Final votes

April 2, 2019
Aye Aye Nay Aye Aye Aye Aye


Documents
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Public Comments

Name Date Comment
Dave 3/20/19 1:13 PM Raising children is not within the purview of County government - and should never be. This is the responsibility of parents, families and society, not bureaucrats. Bureaucratic "creep" into areas that are not appropriate for governmental intervention is dangerous and unproductive. I strongly oppose this interventionist, Nanny-State bureaucratic over-reach.
Clifford Haydon 3/20/19 1:18 PM I am very concerned about any government regulations regarding our children. The government seems to be more interested in indoctrination of them telling them that it is OK to have 2 daddies or 2 mommies. The government is also making it OK to kill our babies even after that are born.
M. Eaton 3/20/19 1:41 PM Way, way too much government involvement and opportunity to force ideology that is inconsistent with individual liberty and freedom. I am also concerned that this proposal has been advanced so far already without a proper amount of notice to community members of Pierce County.
Patrick Campion 3/20/19 2:38 PM Government is already too big, costly, and intrusive.
Suzanne Builta 3/20/19 4:52 PM Keep government out of our children's lives, Socialist brainwashing!
Todd Burgess 3/20/19 5:43 PM I vehemently oppose this proposal as it nullifies the Bill of Rights, the most important amendments to the US Constitution. This nanny State is already far too invasive and costly to be adding on more localized surveillance and intervention.
cristina stuart 3/20/19 10:40 PM As an educator in Bethel School District, and previous day care worker, and grandmother of a low income impacted grand child, I heartily support this measure! It is vital to our communities, as we see so many children entering the school system without the basic skills needed to thrive further. Thank you for this proposal for child welfare.
Kathy Kadow 3/21/19 7:06 AM Look to schools and preschools for best practices to help and ensure proper health education. You can't legislate good health.
Larry Higgins 3/21/19 7:32 AM I can see that the issue is a good one but the task at hand comes with a price tag and the money has to come from somewhere. As a property owner and tax payer I am getting real tired of these special programs getting funded and then you coming back next week with a bill to increase property tax because our fire department needs money or the schools still are not funded, or the roads haven't been repaired for 10 years because we don't have the money. What program that isn't working is getting canceled to pay for this one?
Robert Thomas 3/21/19 7:48 AM We've created an industry supporting homelessness and drug addiction. Why not sap county residents through additional taxes to support this industry-in-the-making as well?
Joseph Brumbley 3/21/19 4:30 PM It is the parents responsibility to raise their children & no one else especially the government. That is the parents "right" in these United States. We absolutely oppose this resolution in every way. As the county council you need to absolutely respect the freedoms & rights of the families, parents of the children in Pierce County. Parents have an absolute right to raise their children as they see fit.
Andrea Gammie 3/21/19 9:53 PM Government over reach. Let the parents do their job not have you dictate and but into families lives. Very socialistic governing. They tried in Chicago and it failed families.
Jeanette Roatch 3/21/19 10:04 PM I absolutely do not support this. We do not need more government committees and beaurocries dictating how we raise our families. This is too much nanny state. Enough with the government overreach. Spend the money on cleaning up the foster care system.
Donna 3/22/19 12:45 AM I don't want more government intervention in our lives
Helene Yates 3/22/19 4:39 AM This proposal is extremely vague and as so, seems it can be quite invasive as a government run initiative. Please do not support this proposal.
Adam lowther 3/22/19 10:53 AM As a father of 4, I do not see this as beneficial
Kathryn Syverson 3/22/19 10:37 PM I do NOT support this.
Greg Cooksey 3/23/19 7:08 AM I absolutely refuse to give consent to support this legislation. If passed, which is likely, I will resist cooperating and complying with this intrusive and controlling legislation. This is appalling.
Michael Lindsay 3/23/19 7:51 AM This not the government role to tell us how to raise our kids! Offering parenting class is one thing but know you will be demanding that that you parent the way WE tell how!. Of course this is coming from democrats whom want to run every aspect of our lives.
Thomas Gordon 3/23/19 8:00 AM Absolutely unacceptable that elected government officials see fit to try to implement and monitor families. It is the parents who raise children,not the government. Some council's set values is not acceptable.
Chrissie wheatman 3/23/19 6:40 PM Please oppose this Proposal there is a reason this didn't stand well in legislative. Families have a right to their privacy!
Geraldine Laemmle 3/24/19 9:05 PM Please vote no on this issue, Thank you.
James Hopkins 3/25/19 8:53 AM The government needs to stay out of the child rearing business and allow parents to determine what is best for their children.
Kathy Kudrna 3/25/19 2:45 PM This state has a hard time taking care of the kids they are supposed to, and now they want to stick there noses into lives of the responsibile people having a family!! This is so wrong on many levels. I am so against this. Both proposals are wrong.
Karen Larsen 3/25/19 4:21 PM I do not support the passage of this proposal. If Pierce County desires to reach local families with more and better resources, that can easily be achieved by meeting with existing local organizations who do this work already. I have always been supportive of local organizations and non-profits who provide services to families and mothers who need extra help. These have been in existence for decades. What I am opposed to with these current proposals, is our council seeking to create a commission who will be tasked to come up with recommendations to pass long-range policies for All families within Pierce County. According to the Resolution, our county council has determined that it’s in the best interest, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Pierce County to prioritize building systems for All children Prenatal to 25. This idea should never be the role of government officials into the lives of the citizens they serve. Our county has already been awarded $250,000 from DCYF (Dept of Children, Youth and Families) to begin implementing the framework. My concern, is DCYF is the same agency that will eventually oversee statewide Universal HomeVisiting for All if HB 1771 passes in Olympia. To note, the creation of DCYF in 2017, was the result of a commission of appointed members via the Governor in 2016. The fact this agency has grown this much since then, enough to grant money to Pierce County, shows how far reaching creating long-standing policy can have. Also, why would we partner with national organizations and not reach out to programs that are working in our county already? Their nationalized goals for our county will be to implement one-size-fits-all programs and policies, regardless of our county’s individual needs. What will these long-range polices cost the taxpayers here in Pierce County? When it comes to local control, I’ve watched at the state level the rapid loss of local control when nationalized policies and initiatives are introduced. K-12 is a perfect example, and The Early Start Act, which targeted children ages 3-5 within daycares and preschools, is another example. The top-down mandates and policies do affect all families, and stifle and squash what citizens have a right to do, address their concerns to our local elected officials. I have gone before my school board in the past to address certain concerns, only to be told that they are powerless to do anything because my concern is “part of a federal/state mandate” that they must abide by. If our County Council partners with these organizations, you will be answerable to these National partners, not the citizens whom you serve and elected you to your position. Parents should the ones directing the upbringing of their children and families. A commission of appointed members who will propose policies via the County Council and County Executive should not be that authority. The majority of mothers do not want their county government to focus on them when they’re pregnant, or when their child is born. If this passes and the long-range policies are in place, when our children become legal adults at age 18, the county will still be assessing them until they’re 25. Would your adult child, or you as an adult, want to be measured by a preconceived “outcome” on whether you've developed successfully per county polices? What if the data says otherwise? These programs also require massive data collection in order to make determinations and measure outcomes. The intimate and detailed information collected on our families have no guarantee of privacy or security. To reiterate again, I fully support local organizations/non-profits who serve local families within their local communities. What I oppose, is our county government overstepping its bounds in seeking to create policy on behalf of All families and their children who live in Pierce County. Please Vote No.
Viktoriya Kaminskiy 3/25/19 7:05 PM I oppose this legislation as I believe it may present situations that would violate the constitution, namely the 4th Amendment.
Curtis Richman 3/26/19 1:34 AM Waste of money & govt intrusion into families decisions for raising their children.
Christy Coady 3/27/19 8:00 PM I oppose Resolution No. R2019-15 and having my tax dollars used for the creation of a commission that would govern all children from womb to age 25. I do not want the government involved in the upbringing or monitoring of my child.
Marsha J Williams 3/28/19 4:00 PM I wish to register my support of this and its companion proposal to look into offering more services to infants, parents and youth in Pierce County. I understand that services would be offered to parents who can decline, so there is no mandatory participation or invasion of privacy.
Melinda Ness 3/31/19 9:53 AM There is nothing that the government has been involved with from education to roads to homeless/mental illness/drug addicts...the list goes on...that has ever been improved. What in the world makes anyone think that the government invading people’s homes to “help” with raising their children would be any different? The government involvement in educating children has failed no matter how much money has been thrown at it. Honestly, the only thing the government has been successful at in education is forcing immorality to be taught in school and dumbing down our educators to the point that they are not allowed creativity to help children want to learn. What we need is LESS government interference, LESS government involvement, LESS perversion in our governent, LESS bipartisan BS snd MORE working to find real solutions for the issues the government is responsible for. Parents need to KEEP the right to parent and raise their children as they see fit. The government needs to stop wasting our money on issues they can’t possibly make better and stop creating more problems. Government DOES NOT know how to raise our children better than we do. Get out of our lives and do the job you were hired to do.