Sonoma County is home to just over 25,000 babies, age six and younger. That includes 5,000 babies who were born here last year with almost half (42 percent) being Latino or non-Anglo. Some other babies were brought here last year after being born in other places. Most came with their parents and most, but not all, were “documented.” Some others were adopted and a few were part of very unique stories.
We love babies. Brown, white and in between. Babies from Asia, Arkansas or Alaska. First babies, grand babies, adopted babies and special babies with special needs. Cute, cuter and cutest. Yours, mine and ours. Babies come first — in feeding, health needs and safety. We even let the government help our babies with free nutrition programs, subsidized day care, well-baby clinics and child protective services.
So, if we have this universal love for babies, why was it necessary last weekend for thousands of people to march here in protest and in support for babies and their mothers and families?
That so many citizens took action against the Trump Administration’s immigration policies that have led to separating thousands of babies from their parents was a stirring moment. That such a harsh and cruel federal law exists in any form is a travesty.
So we marched in the streets in the name of innocent refugee babies with undocumented parents. Let’s bring this national outrage closer to home and have a teaching moment about our own community and our babies, shall we?
What actions of love, concern and support are we taking for our own 25,000 Sonoma County babies?
Of our 25,000 babies, as many as 8,000 live below the federal poverty line. Only one in four is placed in affordable childcare or preschool program, and a growing number are homeless. Three thousand of these babies may be undocumented and from Mexico or other lands with violence, poverty and political strife.
Another 75,000 older children, ages 6-18, also live here. You can add those faces and lives to this math problem, too. We know there are 6,000 school-aged children living in Sonoma County and registered under the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) “Dreamers” program.
Our baby and child population here is a profile of diverse ancestry, mixed social needs and assorted emotional stories. Some are about single mothers and some are about households with a drug dependency. (Twenty-five babies were born here last year with an opioid addiction.)
Other profiles are uplifting and depict multi-generational households with an overabundance of love and nurturing. Fewer babies last year were born to teenaged mothers and an increased number of mothers-to-be received prenatal counseling. Most of our babies’ lives are unremarkable, sometimes called “normal.” But, of all our local baby stories, we don’t think any of them involved forced separation from parents or detention in makeshift tents or steel cages.
To our credit, there are many active public and community-based programs and partnerships focused on the care, education and health of our children. Just this summer, there is the free lunch program of the Redwood Empire Food Bank, free county bus rides for students, swim safety classes and summer camps.
Year round, our children’s care agenda is led by such organizations as the Child Care Planning Council, 4Cs, First 5 and the county government’s Upstream Investment consortium. Mighty goals have been set for universal affordable day care and 100 percent kindergarten enrollment.
These government and community leaders have pledged to make Sonoma County the healthiest county in California, placing a huge emphasis on our babies and children.
Sonoma County is a very good place to raise babies but too many of these young lives are still troubled by low household incomes, unaffordable day care and housing insecurity. All that, plus a cruel immigration policy, that our marching did not end.
