What's at stake?
Some Fresno County leaders will hold a meeting next month to look into concerns involving their foster children reunification process.
In 2021, the Fresno County Department of Social Services made national headlines following the revelation of poor living conditions for its foster children.
First reported by The Fresno Bee, whistleblowers described children sleeping on tables inside the department’s office building, relieving themselves in water bottles, and other subpar living conditions.
Now, five years later, one of the same social workers who helped expose those unhealthy conditions is speaking out again, and says the department forces too many children to return to abusive homes — and she’s had enough.
Lorraine Ramirez first spoke out publicly about reunification issues earlier this month at the Feb. 10 Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Ramirez said children are being “reabused, re-neglected,” leading to a “vicious cycle” of repeat cases.
And at least some of Fresno County’s elected leaders are listening.
Next month, Ramirez will meet with Supervisors Garry Bredefeld and Luis Chavez to provide more details about her public claims that the social services department is rubber-stamping reunifications even when social workers object, frequently overruling the workers’ own recommendations against reunifying kids with abusive homes, in some cases.
Ramirez said the problems have become so great that she plans to retire instead of continuing the work, and urged the supervisors to conduct an independent audit of the county’s social services department.
Whether the problem stems from an overcorrection of the issues the department faced five years ago is not entirely clear yet, though Ramirez said she feels there’s a connection.
Bredefeld and Chavez told Fresnoland their meeting with Ramirez would include some of the county’s top brass, including admin chief Paul Nerland.
“If, after reviewing the information, an independent audit or outside review is warranted, I will absolutely support that,” Bredefeld told Fresnoland as part of an emailed statement. “My focus is simple: protect children, ensure accountability, and maintain the public’s trust that our system is operating safely and responsibly. Whatever changes might need to be made will be made!”
Ramirez said she has worked at the department for about 25 years.
She said the department has social workers like her researching and making determinations on whether a child can be reunified with their original caretaker. The decision can be made following the caretaker’s need for special services and gauging the overall improvement of living conditions.
It’s common for workers to come out against reunification. But county leadership, she said, is, far too often, overriding their determinations — and kids are getting hurt.
She said the end-result is children feel betrayed by social workers for reinserting them back into an unsafe situation, leading to increased difficulty in getting the child the supportive services they need.
Ramirez said these concerns are not necessarily new, and have been raised to county leadership before. But she also alleges that county leadership has often retaliated against workers that speak out.
“A lot of people are afraid to speak up because of that, because they’re still employed and they need their jobs,” Ramirez said.
Chavez is also a member of the county’s foster care oversight committee.
“I take all allegations seriously and have already followed up with our staff, other social workers and our SEIU 521 leadership that flagged similar issues a few years back to get a briefing, “ Chavez said in a statement over text.
“As a foster parent myself for 7 years,” Chavez’s statement continued, “I know firsthand the challenges of the system. Our children need and deserve a safe place, whether that’s with their biological parents (after reunification and support services) or a foster parent.”
The labor union backed both supervisors in the last general election, and the two seemed to hold the major influence the workers needed to get a new contract last year.
Fresnoland sent questions to the county for this story. A county spokesperson responded with a statement that didn’t answer any questions but, instead, discussed taking youth safety “seriously” and described the family reunification process.
“Through a collaborative court process, we work with youth, parents, their attorneys, and their support systems to develop case-specific plans of care with the goal of reunifying youth with their families whenever safe and possible. Our social workers play a critical role in this process and their feedback is crucial to improving our child welfare system.”
They also added that they encourage staff to reach out to department leadership or to the state resources.
“Our department encourages staff to lift up any concerns or ask their leadership team for assistance as needed so that we can make decisions that lead to the best outcomes for our families. Along with reaching out to department leadership, social workers can also reach out to the California Department of Social Service (CDSS) through their Social Worker Empowerment Hotline (1-844-796-6283 / AB1978Hotline@dss.ca.gov), should they have concerns about policies, procedures, or practice related to child welfare services.”
