Sacramento County’s foster system for teens is ‘woefully broken,’ grand jury finds

SACRAMENTO CONTINUES TO BE A SCANDAL MACHINE WHEN IT COMES TO TAKING CARE OF ITS ABUSED AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN. STAY STRONG REACTION AFTER A GRAND JURY REPORT FINDS SACRAMENTO COUNTY CONTINUES TO FAIL FOSTER YOUTH IN ITS OWN CARE. THAT REPORT IS WHAT SPARKED A KCRA 3 INVESTIGATION. IT SAYS THE COUNTY IS STILL NEGLECTING TO FOLLOW REGULATIONS FOR HOUSING TEENAGERS IN CPS CARE. KCRA THREE’S ANDREA FLORES JOINS US WITH THE DETAILS. ANDREA. SO THE REPORT IS CALLED INVISIBLE FOSTER TEENS WHERE ARE THEY? AND THE GRAND JURY DOES NOT PULL ANY PUNCHES WHEN IT COMES TO DETAILS OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY’S FAILINGS. THE MOST RECENT INVOLVING WHAT THEY CALL WELCOME CENTERS FOR YOUTH KCRA THREE INVESTIGATES, BEGAN DETAILING PROBLEMS WITH THE COUNTY’S HOUSING. A FOSTER YOUTH A YEAR AGO, THE COUNTY FACING FINES FROM THE STATE FOR HOUSING KIDS IN AN OFFICE BUILDING, MOVING THEM INSTEAD TO THE WARREN THORNTON CENTER, A FORMER JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITY, AND WHAT THE COUNTY CALLED A SERIES OF INAPPROPRIATE, UNLICENSED LOCATIONS. AFTER OUR REPORTS AND FAILURES OF INSPECTIONS FROM METRO FIRE AND THE STATE, THE FACILITY WAS SHUT DOWN ON, THE KIDS WERE MOVED TO A HOME LIKE ENVIRONMENT AT WHAT THE COUNTY CALLED WELCOME CENTERS. BUT THE GRAND JURY FOUND THAT AS OF TWO WEEKS AGO, THREE OF THOSE FOUR WELCOME CENTERS WERE UNLICENSED. EVEN THOUGH IT HAS BEEN A YEAR SINCE THOSE KIDS WERE MOVED THERE, THEY ALSO FOUND STAFF UNTRAINED IN CARING FOR TEENAGERS. MEANWHILE, A COUNTY OVERSIGHT BOARD IN CHARGE OF OVERSEEING THE HOMES AND CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES HAS PAID NO ATTENTION TO FOSTER YOUTH, FOCUSING ONLY ON ABUSE AND NEGLECT. THE GRAND JURY AND CRITICS SAY THERE ARE THINGS THE COUNTY NEEDS TO FOCUS ON TO PROTECT THESE KIDS, HIRE EXPERIENCED STAFF, PARTNER WITH NONPROFITS THAT HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR A WHILE, HAVE THE SUPERVISORS DEMAND MORE ACCOUNTABILITY ON A REGULAR BASIS? UNTIL THE FIVE MEMBERS OF THE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ACTUALLY START AGENDIZING HOW WE TREAT OUR CHILDREN AT EVERY SINGLE MEETING. AND UNTIL THE FIVE OF THEM START TAKING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE SURE THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN, IT WILL CONTINUE TO HAPPEN AGAIN. ONE OF THE FOUR WELCOME CENTERS WAS ONE RUN BY A NONPROFIT, AND HAD SHOWN SUCCESS WITH KIDS IN ITS CARE. IN A STATEMENT, SACRAMENTO COUNTY SAID THEY RECEIVED THE GRAND JURY REPORT AND ARE PREPARING A RESPONSE FOR THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. LISA. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU. AND THE REPORT ALSO SAYS THE COUNTY NEEDS TO DO A BETTER JOB OF PLACING KIDS WITH APPROPRIATE FAMILY NOT IN FOSTER HOMES. THAT’S SOMETHING A BILL IN FRONT OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE HOPES TO IMPROVE, AND THAT BILL IS IN FRONT OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE. ON MONDAY.

Sacramento County continues to fail in its efforts to find safe and permanent housing for foster teenagers who are being housed at temporary facilities because the county has not prioritized this group in its foster system, according to a damning report by the county’s civil grand jury. The report released on Thursday, sparked by KCRA 3 Investigates' reporting, focuses on foster teenagers who are awaiting placement in a home and says the foster system in Sacramento County is "woefully broken."KCRA 3 Investigates has previously documented problems in recent years with drugs, alcohol, violence and sex trafficking when the county placed at-risk teens at an office building and a former detention facility. After KCRA 3 Investigates' reporting, the county announced in June 2023 that it would open three home-like “welcome centers” in residential neighborhoods, which can house up to six teens at each location. | RELATED | Read the Sacramento County grand jury's report here. The grand jury noted that teens had been temporarily housed in “a series of inappropriate, unlicensed locations” since 2016 after group homes were required to close.But one year after the introduction of the new welcome centers, those facilities remain unlicensed by the state and continue to be “an unsafe environment” for the foster teens and staff, according to the grand jury. At issue are delays in getting complete staff background checks and health clearances, according to the report. “The appalling conditions under which these teenagers have suffered have been widely publicized by media for years,” the report concluded. “Still the conditions continue. Now that these teenagers are no longer invisible, the County must act.”The report says the county's Department of Child, Family and Adult Services "fails to lead" and the Child Protective Services Division (CPS) "fails to serve." Contributing to the problem has been that an oversight body appointed by the county’s Board of Supervisors, the Sacramento County Children’s Coalition, has suffered from vacancies and “tired leadership,” leaving issues with unplaced foster teenagers unaddressed. One bright spot has been a fourth home for teens operating since February by the outside group Progress Ranch which specializes in foster care. This facility is licensed and its collaboration with the county “seems a promising model for success in an arena historically plagued with frustration and failure,” the report says. Another effort by the Children's Receiving Home plans to remodel bungalows where teens can be separated from younger children. But even as the county’s strategy to recruit more professional agencies to operate its welcome homes “is encouraging,” that work will take time and there are other actions the county can take in the meantime, the grand jury argues. The report's recommendations include eventually scrapping its county-run welcome home model while taking measures to address current problems in the meantime. "Hire experienced staff, partner with nonprofits who have been doing this for a while, have the supervisors demand more accountability on a regular basis," says Steve Caruso, foreman of the Sacramento County grand jury. Meanwhile, advocates for foster youth say that the onus for this falls squarely on the Board of Supervisors, which oversees the foster youth system for Sacramento. "Until the five members of the county Board of Supervisors actually start agendizing how we treat our children," says Ed Howard, senior counsel for the Child Advocacy Institute, "at every single meeting, and until the five of them start taking personal responsibility to make sure this never happens again, it will continue to happen again."Here is a closer look at some of the recommendations.The county’s CPS should present a plan to the Board of Supervisors by Nov. 30 on how to recruit licensed and experienced agencies to operate the welcome homes.CPS should keep collaborating with Progress Ranch and the Children’s Receiving Home to establish at least one more temporary housing facility by Dec. 31.CPS should staff its welcome homes with personnel “with practical experience in congregate living environments.” The report gives a deadline of Dec. 31 but says that work should be done as soon as possible. CPS should also work to introduce stronger measures to stop the threat of drug and alcohol use, weapons possession and sex trafficking at the welcome centers.A report last year from the Children's Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego ranked Sacramento County as the worst in the state for placing teenagers with relatives.The grand jury report recommends that the Board of Supervisors should increase the number of teenagers placed with relatives. It's a problem that the Legislature is looking to solve. A bill to require counties to review their child placement progress, and work with counties that do it properly if they fail, passed the Assembly and has its first test in front of the Senate in the coming days. However, multiple counties have opposed the bill.KCRA 3 reached out to the county for comment and received an emailed statement saying, "Sacramento County's Department of Child, Family and Adult Services has received the recent grand jury report addressing the placement, care, and supervision of foster youths. The department is reviewing the recommendations and preparing a response for the County's Board of Supervisors. The health and safety of all youth placed in the County's care and custody remain the department's top priority."Here is a look at KCRA 3 Investigates’ past coverage of the issue:Drugs, alcohol, and violence inside Sacramento County foster youth facilitySacramento County no longer allowed to house foster youth in unlicensed facility'It feels like a juvenile hall to me': A look at the Sacramento County facility for foster youthLawmakers tour former Sacramento County detention facility for foster care youth after KCRA 3 investigation‘I am devastated’: Sacramento County sued for housing foster youth in former jail facilitySacramento County faces 2nd lawsuit for housing foster youth at unlicensed facilitySacramento County official says foster care system in crisis with former jail housing kidsSacramento County to open ‘Welcome Centers’ for at-risk youth, will no longer use former jailSacramento County ranks worst among major California counties for placing foster kids with families Bill holds California counties accountable for foster care family placement as result of KCRA investigation

SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. —

The report released on Thursday, sparked by KCRA 3 Investigates' reporting, focuses on foster teenagers who are awaiting placement in a home and says the foster system in Sacramento County is "woefully broken."

KCRA 3 Investigates has previously documented problems in recent years with drugs, alcohol, violence and sex trafficking when the county placed at-risk teens at an office building and a former detention facility.

After KCRA 3 Investigates' reporting, the county announced in June 2023 that it would open three home-like “welcome centers” in residential neighborhoods, which can house up to six teens at each location.

The grand jury noted that teens had been temporarily housed in “a series of inappropriate, unlicensed locations” since 2016 after group homes were required to close.

Sacramento County Grand Jury

But one year after the introduction of the new welcome centers, those facilities remain unlicensed by the state and continue to be “an unsafe environment” for the foster teens and staff, according to the grand jury. At issue are delays in getting complete staff background checks and health clearances, according to the report.

“The appalling conditions under which these teenagers have suffered have been widely publicized by media for years,” the report concluded. “Still the conditions continue. Now that these teenagers are no longer invisible, the County must act.”

The report says the county's Department of Child, Family and Adult Services "fails to lead" and the Child Protective Services Division (CPS) "fails to serve."

Contributing to the problem has been that an oversight body appointed by the county’s Board of Supervisors, the Sacramento County Children’s Coalition, has suffered from vacancies and “tired leadership,” leaving issues with unplaced foster teenagers unaddressed.

One bright spot has been a fourth home for teens operating since February by the outside group Progress Ranch which specializes in foster care. This facility is licensed and its collaboration with the county “seems a promising model for success in an arena historically plagued with frustration and failure,” the report says.

Another effort by the Children's Receiving Home plans to remodel bungalows where teens can be separated from younger children.

But even as the county’s strategy to recruit more professional agencies to operate its welcome homes “is encouraging,” that work will take time and there are other actions the county can take in the meantime, the grand jury argues.

The report's recommendations include eventually scrapping its county-run welcome home model while taking measures to address current problems in the meantime.

"Hire experienced staff, partner with nonprofits who have been doing this for a while, have the supervisors demand more accountability on a regular basis," says Steve Caruso, foreman of the Sacramento County grand jury.

Meanwhile, advocates for foster youth say that the onus for this falls squarely on the Board of Supervisors, which oversees the foster youth system for Sacramento.

"Until the five members of the county Board of Supervisors actually start agendizing how we treat our children," says Ed Howard, senior counsel for the Child Advocacy Institute, "at every single meeting, and until the five of them start taking personal responsibility to make sure this never happens again, it will continue to happen again."

Here is a closer look at some of the recommendations.

The county’s CPS should present a plan to the Board of Supervisors by Nov. 30 on how to recruit licensed and experienced agencies to operate the welcome homes.
CPS should keep collaborating with Progress Ranch and the Children’s Receiving Home to establish at least one more temporary housing facility by Dec. 31.
CPS should staff its welcome homes with personnel “with practical experience in congregate living environments.” The report gives a deadline of Dec. 31 but says that work should be done as soon as possible. CPS should also work to introduce stronger measures to stop the threat of drug and alcohol use, weapons possession and sex trafficking at the welcome centers.

A report last year from the Children's Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego ranked Sacramento County as the worst in the state for placing teenagers with relatives.

The grand jury report recommends that the Board of Supervisors should increase the number of teenagers placed with relatives.

It's a problem that the Legislature is looking to solve.

A bill to require counties to review their child placement progress, and work with counties that do it properly if they fail, passed the Assembly and has its first test in front of the Senate in the coming days. However, multiple counties have opposed the bill.

KCRA 3 reached out to the county for comment and received an emailed statement saying, "Sacramento County's Department of Child, Family and Adult Services has received the recent grand jury report addressing the placement, care, and supervision of foster youths. The department is reviewing the recommendations and preparing a response for the County's Board of Supervisors. The health and safety of all youth placed in the County's care and custody remain the department's top priority."

Here is a look at KCRA 3 Investigates’ past coverage of the issue:

Sacramento County’s foster system for teens is ‘woefully broken,’ grand jury finds

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