Thousands of foster children could be taken from their homes

Good Morning, I’m Deb Welsh, in for Debbie Cruz….it’s Tuesday, September 17th.

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Almost nine thousand children in foster care in the state could be taken from their homes.

More on why, next. But first... let’s do the headlines….

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San Diego F-C officially has a head coach.

The team named Mikey Varas to the role yesterday (Monday).

Varas most recently served as interim coach of the U-S Men's National

Soccer team.

San Diego F-C’s first season kicks off next year.

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It’s been almost a century since a Black Coronado couple – Gus and Emma Thompson – rented a house to a Chinese American family – the Dongs – when no one else would.

Now, the Dong sons are repaying the kindness, by donating 5-million-dollars to the Black Resource Center at SD-SU.

Lauren Few says her great grandfather Gus Thompson would be proud.

“He was able to help them, which I'm sure he wanted nothing in return. He would never even imagine something like this happening.”

The planned donation earned the Dongs naming rights to the center.

They chose to rename it after Gus and Emma Thompson.

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Today (Tuesday) is expected to be sunny, but windy in most parts of the county.

In the inland areas temperatures will be in the low 70s, in the mountains temps will be in the high 50s, and in the deserts it’ll be in the high 80s.

By the coast, it’s expected to be in the low 70s, with a slight chance of rain this morning.

And there’s a chance of rain in all other parts of the county, except the deserts, starting tomorrow (Wednesday).

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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

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Most of the state's foster family agencies are about to lose their insurance.

Almost nine thousand children could be taken from their homes as early as next month (October).

Reporter Katie Hyson looked into the looming crisis.

Foster family agencies, or FFAs, usually care for children considered high-risk. Like those who are older or medically fragile. They often offer 24/7 support and medical coordination. Statewide, 90 percent of them are backed by the same insurer – Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California, or NIAC. And last month, NIAC announced they won’t be insuring FFAs anymore. They say it’s too expensive. That’s because in 2019, state law expanded the ability to sue for childhood sexual assault. The insurer says they can’t afford more lawsuits and higher settlements. Sue Evans leads an FFA in Southern California. She says over 35 years of working in child welfare, she’s never seen a situation this serious. This is a crisis for our children and young people. If we have to close our foster family agencies, it will leave a huge gap. There is nowhere else for these young people to go. FFAs can’t legally operate without insurance. The children would have to be placed in the county system. But many counties don’t have enough homes or caseworkers to take them. And aren’t prepared for the kinds of high-needs children FFAs serve. Children like Michelle’s in San Diego. It's been really wonderful and joyful. The kids have all been just fantastic. We’re using just her first name to protect the four children currently in her home. One just arrived the day before. After seeing the crisis in Syria on the news, Michelle and her husband began taking in unaccompanied refugee children through an FFA. We kept having the thought, if there was no place else for them to go, they could come to our house. In many ways, they’re regular kids. They’ve got friends here now. They play on sports teams. We talk a lot about faith and what do you think about this, and what do you think about that, and growing up, and dating, and homework. Maybe my favorite part is going on vacation. But they’ve also gone through trauma most children haven’t. We have kids who have been trafficked. We have kids who have been tortured. We have kids that have escaped their home countries in order to avoid becoming child soldiers. We have kids who have come home one day to find their entire families and really their entire villages murdered by soldiers . . . As trauma goes, some people seem to sort of bounce back from these experiences, and some people it clings on them in really heavy ways. It takes time to earn these children’s trust. And create new stability. We tell them, ‘Hey, we will never be able to replace your biological parents, but we will do the best that we can. You don't have to love us back, but we'll do the best that we can to love you.’ And the expectation is that they'll get to stay here until they grow up, that they'll get to decide when they're ready to leave. This summer, NIAC drastically lowered coverage for homes with pools. So Michelle demolished hers. But it might not matter. NIAC is not renewing her FFA’s insurance. Her family could pay the unintended price of a well-meaning law. I feel like we made a promise to protect them. And it's really scary to think they could just be whisked out of our hands. I just keep picturing somebody walking up to my door and having to tell our kids, ‘Okay, bye. It was nice knowing you.’ She and her husband have been praying a lot these last few weeks. She says they aren’t up against any one person’s bad intentions. But a system that isn’t nuanced enough. We're dealing with the law here. And laws are clunky. There are real individual children involved in this situation . . . You can't just stick them in any available slot. It's not a hotel. It's not an orphanage. It's not just a place for a kid to sleep for a little while until they grow up. But it's an attempt to give them the closest thing to what they've lost that we can. FFAs are now scrambling for new insurance. But Sue Evans says the options are often twice as expensive, and offer less coverage. They’re asking elected officials to intervene. And Michelle is asking God. And the calendar is counting down to September 30th. Katie Hyson, KPBS News.

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The county board of supervisors adopted a new climate action plan last week.

Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says it aims to steer growth away from car-dependent communities.

AB: Two previous climate plans from the county government were thrown out in court for being unenforceable. The new plan includes strategies like improving the energy efficiency of buildings, planting more trees and discouraging development in wildfire zones and areas that induce heavy car usage. Supervisor Nora Vargas says her constituents in the South Bay will experience some of the worst impacts from climate change. NV: "We have had practices such as freeway construction through low-income communities, lack of transportation, green space and access to quality food that have led to prolonged unhealthy impacts. We have an opportunity to address this historical disinvestment by filling a gap in the Climate Action Plan." AB: The two Republican county supervisors voted against the climate plan, saying it would leave few options for developers to build housing in the county's unincorporated areas. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.

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Electric vehicle charging stations are still searching for a good business model that will make money and serve E-V owners.

Sci-tech reporter Thomas Fudge has more on a survey and report by Next 10.

The Next 10 report included a survey of more than a thousand electric vehicle owners in California and a business analysis of current charging stations. Study co-author Alan Jenn, a professor at UC Davis, said California charging stations are all subsidized and they clearly could not survive without that. He says the business model of gas stations, which double as convenience stores, could work for charging stations.  “With a gas station, most of the revenue and profit that they derive is not coming from the sale of gasoline. It is actually coming from selling soda and chips and that sort of thing.” The report found that most EV owners charged their cars at home. But public chargers were more likely to be used if they were close to a restaurant or grocery store. The study showed that freeway rest stops had the highest percentage of people saying they would use a charging station at a place like that. SOQ.

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Hispanic Heritage Month is now underway.

As reporter Alexander Nguyen tells us, San Diego is celebrating that part of the city’s heritage with a new exhibit at city hall.

As Rancheras Music plays in the lobby of City Hall … community members gather to celebrate the exhibit recognizing the Chicano Movement in San Diego. The exhibit features historical images, City records and documents for a comprehensive view of the Chicano Movement in San Diego. Alberto Pulido from the Chicano Park Museum says the exhibit is important to show the history of Logan Heights, which is rarely talked about. “People don't know that Logan Heights is the first neighborhood of this region. Logan Heights went through major changes to the arrival of Interstate five and the arrival of the Coronado Bridge. It was rezone into an industrial zone. So a neighborhood of 20,000 people vanished.” As you walk through the exhibit … there are colorful replicas of the murals on the freeway pillars at Chicano Park … and documents recording the park's history. Afterward, visitors are asked to reflect on what they would have done in the Chicano Movement era. AN/KPBS.

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That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Deb Welsh. It was nice chatting with you all on the podcast this week. Debbie Cruz will be back tomorrow. Thanks for listening and have a great Tuesday.