“Grandma was in the system and now Mom is in the system and now the child is in the system … How can we expect our community members to even start healing?”
This story was published in partnership with Mother Jones and The Fuller Project. Support for this reporting was provided by the USC Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism National Health Journalism Fellowship.
In the third part of this multi-part series, we look at some of the ways in which the process of diversion can jump the rails.
For pregnant individuals facing multiple years in prison, a program offers unexpected hope and an alternative pathway.
In the second part of this multi-part series, we explore, step-by-step, the process for diverting pregnant people out of LA County’s women’s jail, moving them into housing and toward independence.
Outside of the traditional foster care system exists a shadow system of potentially hundreds of thousands of children removed by CPS to their relatives or family friends—without a court case, monetary support, or due process.
Child welfare cases are at a 14-year high months after Los Angeles County’s Dependency Court reopened in June. Families and attorneys are struggling in virtual courtrooms.
Child welfare agencies use a shadow system to remove kids from their parents’ care. Nobody knows how many children are placed this way or what happens to them in new homes.
The Virginia Department of Social Services has seen a 50% drop in calls to the child abuse and neglect hotline since mid-March, but social workers are concerned that an increase in domestic violence and child abuse may be going unreported.
Federal offficials are concerned families could be penalized unfairly.
