This two-part investigation looks into Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the largest child welfare agency in the U.S., and what happens when the system that is meant to protect these children falls short—and even puts their lives at risk. “Unsafe In Foster Care” also delves into the systemic problems of the child welfare system and its racist practices. The number of Latino children removed by DCFS in 2020 amounted to almost 60 percent of all children removed, similar to the number of Latino children in the county’s child population. Yet for Black children, who make up only 7.4 percent percent of LA County’s child population, they are almost one quarter of all the children removed.
