ARTICLE TAG

department of children and family services

The child welfare field is still pondering the impacts.

12/16/2020

Dependency Court Backlog Finds Many Los Angeles Children Still in Limbo

Illustration by Christine Ongjoco
Since the coronavirus began to fray Los Angeles County’s safety net in March, the number of children involved with its child welfare system has swelled by 4,000 children, reaching the highest total in 14 years.

3/20/2020

L.A. Child Welfare Social Workers Conducting Home Visits without Protection Against Coronavirus

As first responders face a growing shortage of protective gear, social workers across sprawling Los Angeles County have continued to make visits to the homes of children and families in the child welfare system — at times without masks or gloves, according to social workers with the county’s Department of Children and Family Services.

1/22/2020

LAPD Child Abuse Investigations Audit Raises New Questions

This week, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) released a much-anticipated report focused on its response to the nearly 4,000 allegations of serious child abuse it had marked “no investigation” from January 2018 through June 2019.

1/10/2020

Months After Promising an Audit, L.A. Police Fail to Explain Why 4,000 Child Abuse Reports Weren’t Investigated

Nearly three months after the Los Angeles Police Department vowed to find out why the department had not investigated 4,000 reported cases of child abuse, an in-depth audit of the cases is still not ready to deliver to county child welfare officials.

12/13/2019

A Philanthropic Vision for Improving L.A. County’s Child Welfare System

A collective of Los Angeles County-based government agencies, philanthropies, foster family agencies and faith-based organizations have launched an effort to boost the county’s foster care capacity and help more children receive better care, according to a brief released by the group.

12/10/2019

Protest Targets a Sky-High Foster Care Removal Rate in L.A. County

When Kathy Cline sought help at a downtown Los Angeles shelter with her 13-year-old son, it had been a long journey to that doorstep. She’d been sick and hospitalized, which led to her being unable to pay her rent.

    11/25/2019

    Los Angeles Partnership Aims to Give All Foster Youth Work Experience Before Exiting Care

      Over the next month, Los Angeles County will roll out an electronic system that supporters say will make it easier for youth in foster care to enroll in programs in the county’s workforce system.

    11/13/2019

    EXCLUSIVE: New Details Reveal How Two Social Workers Fought, But Failed, to Save 4-Year-Old Noah Cuatro

    This summer, a 4-year-old boy named Noah Cuatro was allegedly tortured and killed by his parents in Palmdale, a high desert exurb of Los Angeles County. The tragedy is still sending shockwaves through the county’s $2.9 billion child welfare agency and local government.

    11/11/2019

    Big National Funders Back Plan to Help Antelope Valley After String of Child Welfare Deaths

    Los Angeles County’s Antelope Valley — the remote area that has seen several of the county’s worst child welfare tragedies over the past six years — is at the center of a new philanthropic effort to prevent child maltreatment and help support vulnerable children and families.