We, the undersigned concerned citizens, advocates, and former foster youth, demand immediate and decisive action to overhaul a child welfare system that has been systematically failing the young people it is sworn to protect.

The current system exposes children to lethal risks, ignores pervasive abuse, and ensures catastrophic adult outcomes:

Foster youth in America face a 42% higher mortality rate than the general population.
Up to 50% of the adult homeless population are former foster youth, a direct result of the system failing to prepare them for independence.
This is not a failure of individual cases; it is a systemic violation of the constitutional right to safety and well-being of children in state custody. We demand specific, measurable reforms to save lives and ensure a future for every foster child.
  

We call upon the State and County Child Welfare Agencies to implement the following mandatory reforms immediately:

Demand 1: Zero Tolerance for Fatal and Egregious Negligence
 

Mandatory Homicide/Abuse Review Teams: Require an independent, state-level review team, including former foster youth and forensic experts, to investigate every death of a child in foster care, with findings made public and binding recommendations enforced.
Immediate Suspension of Negligent Social Workers: Institute a policy that immediately suspends and investigates social workers whose negligence directly contributed to a child’s serious injury or death.
Increased Criminal Liability: Work with the State Attorney General’s office to pursue gross negligence charges against foster parents, group home staff, and supervisors where abuse or death is found to be a result of deliberate indifference. ( ie. Arabella McCormack 2023, Spring Valley, CA)
 

Demand 2: Systemic Oversight and Placement Safety
 

Reduce Social Worker Caseloads: Immediately cap social worker caseloads to the maximum allowable federal standards and implement funding mechanisms to reduce them further, ensuring timely and thorough case supervision or consider a higher salary.
Mandated Unannounced Visits: Require social workers to conduct a minimum of one unannounced, in-person visit per month to every foster home and group home, with mandatory, private interviews of the child.
Quality Control Vetting: Overhaul the background check and licensing process for Resource Families and Group Home staff to include psychological evaluations and financial audits to prevent placement with exploiters.
 

Demand 3: End the Homelessness Pipeline

Guaranteed Transitional Housing: Guarantee access to safe, stable transitional housing for all non-minor dependents (NMDs) through age 24.
Increased Financial Stipends: Immediately increase the monthly financial stipend for NMDs and young adults aging out of care to meet the actual cost of living in their county, preventing economic desperation and housing instability.
Universal Post-Care Services: Mandate that ILP (Independent Living Program) services continue to be available and automatically enrolled for all former foster youth until the age of 26, ensuring access to education and employment support.

Conclusion

The failure of the foster care system is a preventable tragedy. The government assumes the role of parent of the country (parens patriae) and, in doing so, accepts the highest legal and moral obligation to protect these young people. We demand that you stop failing the children and youth in your custody.
 

Call to Action
 

We demand a formal public response and a concrete, measurable action plan from San Diego's child welfare services, the board of supervisors and mayor Todd Gloria within thirty (30) days of the submission of this petition And we will give Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department Of Child Protective Services 60 days to respond. 

Failure to respond with a set plan to implement these systemic reforms within the designated timeframe will compel the undersigned citizens and advocates to move forward immediately with a class-action civil rights lawsuit. This legal action will seek to hold the State and County accountable for violating the constitutional and federal statutory rights of children in state custody, specifically alleging deliberate indifference to the well-being and safety of foster youth, leading directly to wrongful death, systemic abuse, and the foster-to-homelessness pipeline.

Sign this petition and compel the government to take accountability and to prioritize the lives of youth and  young people who come from a protected population*