Downey’s Martha Sodetani chosen to receive Protector of Children Award

Martha Sodetani will be presented with the Protector of Children Award at Community Family Guidance Center’s children’s benefit dinner May 2. Photo by Alex Dominguez

DOWNEY – Former Downey Unified School District Board of Education member and longtime volunteer Martha Sodetani has been named as this year’s recipient of the Protector of Children Award.

Sodetani was nominated and selected by members of the Community Family Guidance Center Board of Directors. Established in 1976, the Community Family Guidance Center is a nonprofit organization focused on serving underserved youth of Southeast Los Angeles County with their mental health, trauma, and behavioral needs through evidence-based programming.

Sodetani said she was “totally surprised” by the award.

“Mental health is so important,” said Sodetani. “The organization that’s honoring me, they’ve been active in our schools, serving our children for a few years, so I’m familiar with them from that point of view; seeing what they do, the broad spectrum that they cover. But I was totally surprised.”

She said that there are “disparities” among children.

“I think if we can level the playing field just a little bit, that certain community can rise up and succeed,” said Sodetani. “Not just succeed, but be extremely successful in life and reach other people.”

Sodetani is known for her over 17 years on the Downey Unified School Board, as well as a long resume of volunteer work, including with PTA, PTA HELPS, Gangs Out of Downey, Assistance League of Downey, and the Downey Coordinating Council.

She says, “as the schools go, so goes the city.”

“Being elected to the school board, that was having a voice for 20,000 students, and over 1,000 teachers, and so many employees.”

Before that, however, she says that she was “making a difference one child at a time” as a foster parent to medically fragile babies.

Sodetani made the decision to begin fostering while at a crossroads in her life, finding herself even more inspired to do so after seeing the effects of foster care up close.

“I worked as a substitute in the school district about 35 years ago, and so I went to different schools, and whenever they would remove students for a classroom, it seems like they would sit behind my desk,” said Sodetani. “There were two brothers at Ward School, and they’d come to school with scratches on their faces, really deep scratches. So, they were behind my desk and they were coloring.

“The older boy said to the younger one, ‘This time we might get a house with a yard, and there might be a dog,’ and he was actually excited. I saw a whole new light as far as fostering went, in a positive way.”

Though she wasn’t sure on the final number, Sodetani says she fostered over 10 children over the course of around eight years, adopting three, and stopping only after the passing of her husband, Gordon.

Sodetani also spent time teaching Permanence and Safety Model Approach to Partnership and Parenting (PSMAPP) classes to other prospective foster and adoptive parents.

“I felt at that time, working directly with people who will have the children in their home, would have them really see the opportunity of being involved; you know, the family is going along and there are certain things happening, but you have opportunity to be a wedge and to change how that family goes.”

Sodetani will be presented with the Protector of Children Award at the Children’s Benefit Dinner, which will be held at the Sheraton Cerritos Hotel on May 2.

Bill Sinko, Executive Director of the Community Family Guidance Center, explained that the dinner is one of two fundraising events held annually to help cover kids “who don’t have any insurance or any other ways to pay for the services they need to meet their mental health challenges.”

“It’s our third year of doing the event. We get over 200 people that attend the event,” said Sinko. “We get a lot of people of notoriety that come to it; Supervisor [Janice] Hahn has attended every year. We have senators that attend, a number of mayors that attend from all the different cities that we serve.

“It’s just a great time that we have together, but more importantly it’s a great fundraiser for the Center.”

Sinko described Sodetani as “very worthy” of the Protector of Children Award.

“She’s done a lot of great work in the Downey community, in particular working with everything from gang members to other kids in need,” said Sinko.