California State Senator Aisha Wahab held a press conference on Monday, Oct. 27, to demand reform in Alameda County’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) foster care system. The event happened about a month after the release of a California state audit on the department.
The audit found that DCFS took too long to start investigations that involved alleged child abuse and neglect, that foster youth did not receive timely critical mental and physical health services, and that the county did not make sure foster youth had contact with extended family members and relatives.
The audit on the department was requested by Wahab through the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. “We are paying attention and we are watching to see what the county does,” Wahab said during a phone interview.
Wahab, who is a former Alameda County foster child, said the department has a history of neglect towards foster youth, including a lawsuit filed by the City of Hayward in 2023.
“The children deserve better, there should be no delays in services or placements,” said Wahab. “I am refusing to let this audit be swept under the rug as so many of their previous lawsuits and grand jury reports have been.”
Investigations are supposed to start 1-10 days after a referral, depending on the initial investigation. A referral is made through the department’s hotline for suspected child abuse and neglect.
For example, if a teacher calls the hotline to say they think a child is getting abused, a social worker is supposed to look into the referral and determine if it’s an immediate or non-immediate investigation.
If the referral is immediate and a child is at risk of physical pain, injury or even death, a social worker from the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) has 24 hours to conduct an in-person investigation. If the referral is non-immediate, the social worker has 10 days to look into the case and close it.
The state audit reviewed years 2019 to 2024 and found that five to 11% of immediate investigations per year were started late or beyond the 24-hour investigation protocol.
The state audit said they recognize that the department is suffering through a staffing shortage. DCFS assistant agency director Michelle Love said in an Alameda County board meeting web stream on Tuesday, Oct. 7, that the department had made multiple attempts to catch up on their caseloads. They did so through county staff rotations, offering overtime pay and retention pay. The state audit said DCFS should hire more child welfare workers to the ERU.
The audit said the department should also communicate with partnering agencies about documenting when mental health and physical health services are provided to youth.
Love said it’s important for the county to close cases. “For emergency response when they go out and do an investigation, they need to come back and close it,” she said. “The liability exists for the county for open cases, because if something happens, the case is still assigned to us.”
Alameda County Supervisor Lena Tam asked the department to come back with pay incentives for workers in DCFS. Supervisor Nate Miley asked, “How can we make it so people want to do this job and know they got the support of the board, their counterparts, their supervisors, their managers?”
Supervisor Elisa Marquez, who represents Hayward, Union City, Newark and parts of Fremont, said she can relate as a former probate home investigator. “I can relate to the stress of showing up to someone’s house,” she said. “You have no idea if there’s weapons in the home, animals. I can relate to the uncertainty and the high level of stress, it never ends.”
The board asked for monthly updates from DCFS, but Wahab said she wants the department to respond with more urgency.
“I’m deeply disappointed that a well resourced county like Alameda County still can’t do the basic work of investigating calls where children are in harm’s way,” said Wahab. “And I want to be very clear. For every delay that they find acceptable, a child is being harmed mentally, physically and sexually abused. That is the reality of what we are talking about.”
