The California Department of Child Welfare Services repeatedly fails in its duty to protect children from harm, enabling false allegations, coercive control, and judicial misconduct to dictate custody outcomes rather than factual evidence. In case after case, CWS dismisses credible reports of abuse while simultaneously weaponizing unverified allegations to separate children from fit and loving parents. This inconsistency has led to irreversible trauma, wrongful parental alienation, and a breakdown in public trust in the agency’s ability to act in the best interests of the child. Despite its mandate to safeguard children, CWS instead functions as an unchecked bureaucratic entity that too often reinforces systemic biases, rubber-stamps flawed family court rulings, and fails to provide meaningful oversight of its own investigators and social workers.

The CCPC demands a formal review of CWS policies, practices, and investigative procedures, highlighting cases where CWS has either ignored verifiable abuse or facilitated the removal of children from safe environments due to one-sided, unchallenged reports. Too often, CWS operates without proper accountability, making unilateral decisions that have devastating consequences for families while remaining shielded from scrutiny. In our near-future meeting with Attorney General Rob Bonta, we'll present a litany of documented cases of CWS misconduct, where false allegations have been accepted without due diligence, social workers have fabricated or omitted critical information, and parents have been railroaded into losing custody without the opportunity for proper defense. These issues demand a statewide audit, legislative reforms to CWS authority, and the establishment of independent oversight committees to investigate these egregious failures in each jurisdiction.

We are also strongly pushing for an overhaul of CWS training protocols, accountability measures for caseworkers, and legal consequences for those who knowingly engage in misconduct. CWS must be required to record all interviews, document the full scope of evidence (including exculpatory material), and adhere to due process protections before recommending child removals. Additionally, we'll propose stronger checks on CWS collaboration with family court professionals, ensuring that social workers, attorneys, and judges are held accountable for rubber-stamping unjust separations. California families deserve a system that prioritizes truth and justice over bureaucratic expediency, and CCPC will work relentlessly to expose CWS failures until meaningful change is enacted.

Finally, we'll ensure that judicial officers and social workers within CWS have received the mandated training that SB 331 requires.