Safe sourcing

“When I asked for help, they wanted to separate us,” said Jackie, 39, who asked not to use her full name to protect her children’s privacy.”

Diverse perspectives

“CalMatters spoke with four mothers who lost children because of a failure to protect order, five current and former social workers, eight domestic violence policy experts and advocates and two state lawmakers for this story.”

Approachable data

“No one can say how many California children are separated from family members every year under the law because neither the state nor counties collect that information. The closest estimate comes from a recent report by the UCLA Pritzker Center that showed more than half of Los Angeles County’s 38,618 foster care cases in 2020 involved domestic violence.”

Empowering portrayal

Explores solutions

“The Pritzker Center report calls for California to consider legislative reforms similar to the ruling from the New York Court of Appeals. The report also calls for better training in the complexities of family violence for all child welfare workers, court officers and such mandated reporters as teachers and coaches.”

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Lived expertise

“Jackie, the mother who was alarmed when she received a ‘failure to protect’ warning six years ago, believes the law discourages women from reporting domestic violence. ‘A lot of women don’t say anything because of fear of being separated from their kids,’ she said.”