LA County’s DCFS removes between 4,000 and 6,000 kids from their homes every year and places them in foster care.
Of those removed, social workers disproportionately place children of color and those who live in the lowest-income communities in foster care at higher rates than their peers in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods.
When mothers experiencing domestic violence call the police for help, they find that responding law enforcement officers are quick to involve the child welfare system.
Once involved, social workers often remove children from their homes, even if the victim has left the partner who is abusing them.
Knowledge of this possibility often leaves victims of domestic violence afraid to call the police for help when they need it.
A bill making its way through the state legislature aims to make it easier for parents charged with certain crimes to stay with their kids. If passed, SB 394 would allow courts to establish a diversion system for primary caregivers of children under 18.
Advocates for restorative justice say there’s a need for alternative strategies to address domestic violence, especially in cases where survivors don’t want the police involved.
A majority of crime victims in California want more support services for themselves and increased investment in rehabilitation programs for offenders, a report released this week concludes.
More than 85,000 of California’s most vulnerable low-income residents, including those who are homeless and have been recently incarcerated, are now enrolled in a pilot project designed to link health care to social services.
As our country faces a gun violence epidemic, I find myself perplexed by the blatant gaps in our prevention systems. California law and the public agree that batterers should not own guns, and yet law enforcement agencies are not equipped to enforce these regulations.
I visited LA Kitchen, in part as a pediatrician, to learn about a career resource for my older foster-care patients. Transitional age youths are 16 to 24 years old and often age out of the system with a limited ability to support themselves.
My school has its own on campus police that continues to criminalize young black and brown students. We are being over-policed, and our schools are slowing becoming prisons. We cannot arm our teachers as if they are maximum-security prison guards.
Gun violence has taken too many lives and there needs to be a change.
California has a new addiction treatment approach that tackles substance-use disorder much like any other chronic disease, such as diabetes or heart disease. Patients receive ongoing checkups and support to help prevent relapse, and to catch and treat it quickly if it happens.
So far 10 counties have launched the new program, including Los Angeles, Riverside, San Francisco and San Luis Obispo. Another 30 counties are expected to follow suit this year.