California’s Child Welfare System: Addressing Disproportionalities and Disparities

Apr 24, 2024 - In California, Black, Native American, and Hispanic/Latino children are more likely than children of other races/ethnicities to experience this more extreme level of deprivation. For example, in 2021, Black children were roughly three times more likely than white children to experience deep poverty (16  percent compared to 5  percent).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4897

Trends in CalWORKs: Participant Characteristics

Jun 16, 2025 - Race/Ethnicity Most CalWORKs Heads of Household Were Hispanic, White, or Black. As shown in Figure   12 , about half of CalWORKs heads of household were Hispanic in 2022. About 22  percent were white and 20  percent were Black.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5057

The 2024-25 Budget: Department of Social Services Immigration and Equity Programs

Mar 15, 2024 - Despite this reduction, it is our understanding that core immigration services across the state, including those for Black and AAPI immigrants which were previously supported by TPS funding, will continue to be supported through the base ISF program.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4885

The 2023-24 Budget: Analysis of Child Welfare Proposals and Implementation Updates

Feb 22, 2023 - In California, Black and Native American youth in particular are overrepresented in the foster care system relative to their respective shares of the state ’s youth population. As illustrated in Figure  2 , the proportion of Black and Native American youth in foster care is around four times larger than their proportion of the population in California overall.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4698

Implementing California’s Child Welfare Prevention Services Program

Jan 28, 2026 - For example, a number of California counties have “cultural broker ” programs, which are community ‑led initiatives that work with Black families who have an open child welfare case (or are at risk of child welfare system intervention).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5106

Comparing CalWORKs Take-Up Rates Across Demographic Groups

Feb 14, 2023 - For example, a family containing both Black and white members cannot accurately be assigned by the survey to a single racial characteristic. Such characteristics, thus, can only accurately describe individuals, rather than families as a whole.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4678

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Human Services

Nov 21, 2025 - In addition to rejecting this cap on overtime, as part of the final budget package, the Legislature adopted budget-related legislation that states t hat any hours worked that exceed 40 hours in a workweek will continue to be paid overtime rates even in the event that the federal government makes a future decision to no longer require overtime, or pay a share of the cost of overtime.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5086/4

The 2021-22 May Revision—Child Welfare Budget Proposals

Jun 11, 2021 - For example, the Legislature may want to require reporting to track the degree to which prevention services improve outcomes for children and families, reduce entries (and re-entries) into foster care, and in particular reduce child removal among communities who are disproportionately involved with the child welfare and foster care systems (including Black, Native American, Hispanic, and/or LGBTQ youth).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4444

The 2022-23 Budget: Analysis of Child Welfare Proposals and Program Implementation Updates

Feb 22, 2022 - In California, Black and Native American youth in particular are overrepresented in the foster care system relative to their respective shares of the state ’s youth population. As illustrated in Figure  2 , the proportions of Black and Native American youth in foster care are around four times larger than the proportions of Black and Native American youth in California overall.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4558

Recent Trends in Young Adult Mortality

Dec 10, 2024 - After every fatal crash, law enforcement agencies determine which type of traffic violation was the “primary collision factor ” leading to the crash. As noted above, many factors can contribute to crashes, some of which fit neatly into this framework and some of which do not.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4945