Across California there are roughly 65,000 youth in the foster care system and nearly 14,000 of those youth are African American. Black, Latino and Native American children are disproportionally represented. Los Angeles County has the most children of any county in the state of California. There are roughly 30,000 children in Los Angeles County’s foster care system currently with Black and Latino children overrepresented within the county’s system versus being less represented in LA County’s general population. This roundtable being hosted by the People’s Association of Justice Advocates Office of the President Shane Harris and Los Angeles’s Sanctuary of Hope seeks to be a space during National Foster Care Month for current and former foster youths, young adults, caregivers, social workers, community organizations, churches and mandated reporters among others to come together for a change driven conversation about how to expand prevention efforts in LA County and across California when it comes to decreasing the disproportionate placement of Black and Brown children in the foster
care system.
Read advisory here.