Alameda County’s Department of Children and Family Services failed to meet state deadlines to investigate alleged child abuse, provide physical and mental health care and maintain family connections, according a report published Tuesday by State Auditor Grant Parks.
The report admonishes the Alameda County foster care system for ongoing structural deficiencies, including short staffing and poor record-keeping, while also noting that the agency’s plan to address service gaps may still not be enough to bring it up to standard.
“Without timely investigations and thorough documentation,” Parks wrote, “the department runs the risk of leaving youth in potentially unsafe circumstances or of not providing vital services that youth in its care require for their well‑being, family connections, and successful transition into adulthood.
Alameda County’s foster care system has faced significant controversy over the past decade for multiple deaths of children in their care. In 2015, 3-year-old Mariah Mustafa died from an overdose of methamphetamine in her foster home. Her older brother, just 7-years-old at the time, sued over her death, and Alameda County and a nonprofit paid a $3.5 million settlement.
An investigation by Bay Area News Group of the 2022 death of 8-year-old Sophia Mason found that social workers were alerted seven times to her abuse yet failed to adequately intervene. This news agency also published records showing the agency’s failure to remove 23-month-old Kristofer Ferreyra from her family’s home after social workers noted drug paraphernalia. Ferreyra died in Oct. 2024 of a fentanyl overdose.
State Sen. Aisha Wahab penned a letter in April 2024 to the state auditor requesting an investigation of the Alameda County Children and Family Services Department, citing, “years of issues… especially concerning foster youth.”
“There are clear systemic failures and a lack of administrative planning to support foster youth with emerging and complex needs,” Wahab added.
The state auditor’s office investigated agency’s records between July 2019 and June 2024, when the Children and Family Services Department received almost 57,000 reports of alleged child abuse and neglect. For the most serious allegations, the agency must begin an investigation within 24 hours, while less immediate concerns must be investigated within 10 days, according to state law.
“In fiscal year 2023–24, the department initiated investigations of 11 percent of immediate referrals and 48 percent of non‑immediate referrals after the required time frames. Furthermore, the department did not complete investigations within the prescribed 30 days after initiation, and it took the department an average of 105 days to complete investigations for about half of all non‑immediate referrals in fiscal year 2023–24,” according to the report.
Parks’ audit recommends a series of changes to the Children and Family Service Department to align itself with state requirements. This includes more oversight for the agency’s handling of investigations into child abuse, an overhaul of its hiring and recruitment practices, and thorough documentation of its records by Oct. 2026.
Alameda County Children and Family Services Assistant Agency Director Michelle Love responded to a draft of the report on Aug. 29, stating her department was dedicated to improving its performance and would implement the report’s recommendations.
“The Department intends to take appropriate action in collaboration with its interagency partners and contractors to implement the recommendations,” Love wrote in a response to the audit. “The Department appreciates that the Report notes that delays, both in investigations and in ensuring youth receive the services needed, are often not within the Department’s control.”
