Rally to Reimagine Child Safety

The Reimagine Child Safety coalition, made up of more than 40 community and activist groups, will rally before the L.A. County Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting on May 17 to demand systemic changes in the county’s family regulation system (also known as the child welfare system).
 
Under the current system, Black children make up 27.8% of children in the county’s Department of Children and Family Services’ (DCFS) custody, despite only making up only 7.5% of children in the county. Family regulation is a reproductive justice issue — just as we fight to prevent forced pregnancy, we must also look at systems that intrude, surveil, and over-police low income families of color that choose to have children.
 
On May 17th, Supervisor Janice Hahn will be introducing a motion on one of the demands made by the coalition — the right to counsel for all parents at the beginning of any DCFS investigation. The coalition is seeking action on ten other key demands.