California’s Child Welfare System: Addressing Disproportionalities and Disparities

Apr 24, 2024 - Research Shows Youth Who Experience Maltreatment Are More Likely to Experience Other Negative Outcomes. Children who have experienced the traumas associated with child maltreatment —whether or not they are placed into foster care —are significantly more likely to experience negative longer ‑term life outcomes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4897

Trends in CalWORKs: Participant Characteristics

Jun 16, 2025 - These individuals may be meeting the state’s WTW requirement—therefore avoiding a sanction—but not meeting the federal WTW requirement, which negatively impacts the WPR. California Made Various Program Changes Over Last Decade.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5057

Implementing California’s Child Welfare Prevention Services Program

Jan 28, 2026 - The Legislature could work with the administration to understand what options exist to pursue expansion of the federal clearinghouse to include such programs. Consider What Data Legislature Would Want for Future Evaluation.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5106

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

Feb 22, 2023 - In addition, the Legislature could direct the department to report on: why developing guidance and launching new programs requires the amount of time it does, what challenges have arisen and required additional time to address, what any unanticipated obstacles have been, and what programs are achieving in terms of impacts on youth and families.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4698

The 2026-27 Budget: Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) Program

Mar 3, 2026 - In years that the CPI-W is negative (as was the case in 2010, 2011, and 2016), the federal government does not decrease SSI grants, but instead holds them flat. …While State Has Option to Provide Annual COLA to SSP Grants.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5148

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 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

The 2026-27 Budget: County Administration and H.R. 1 Implementation

Mar 5, 2026 - Without a methodology that links funding to workload, funding could become insufficient or exceed what is required for efficient operations without a clear way of assessing what adjustments are needed.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5149

Comparing CalWORKs Take-Up Rates Across Demographic Groups

Feb 14, 2023 - Negative Program Perceptions May Discourage Enrollment. Another common thread in our stakeholder interviews is that many CalWORKs applicants are reportedly very reluctant to apply for aid and do so only as a “last resort. ” To the extent such attitudes vary between groups, this could explain some differences in take ‑up rates between groups.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4678

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

Mar 15, 2024 - TPS immigration services provides services beyond those for TPS individuals, this includes funding to increase the capacity to support Black immigrants, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) immigrants, and those facing deportati on proceedings.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4885