As federal health programs shift and immigration raids continue, a Bay Area alliance is stepping up its work to help families and prevent child abuse, which can increase during times of stress.
”We need to really take a step back and take a look at what we are doing as a society to ensure that no one is living in poverty,” said Pegah Faed CEO of Safe & Sound in San Francisco.
In California, a person under 18 can marry with the consent of one parent and a judge. The state is one of only nine in the nation that do not set a minimum age for marriage.
People married as children or teens are more likely to experience domestic violence, contract sexually transmitted infections, have early pregnancies, and end up divorced, research shows. Marriage under 18 also contradicts age of consent laws in many states.
The Los Angeles County child welfare agency is so slow at investigating allegations of abuse that some children remain in unsafe homes for months without action taken to protect them.