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Extracted from Consolidated Report
This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.
San Bernardino County Grand Jury
• 2022-2023
San Bernardino County Children and Family Services
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings 10 findings
F1
Page 148
San Bernardino County Children and Family Services has no proactive outreach unit with strategies or services to assist those families in need, so that they do not become part of Children and Family Services in the future.
F2
Page 148
There is no independent watchdog group which oversees the San Bernardino County Children and Family Services.
F3
Page 148
There are no proactive/preventive measures for effectively vetting and background checking San Bernardino County Children and Family Services Resource Family Homes and foster settings.
F4
Page 148
There is no data interfacing between Children and Family Services and law enforcement which would capture, track, and maintain data on all foster child abuse allegations and investigations.
F5
Page 148
Children and Family Services does not share information with a Foster Family Agency in a timely manner. This causes delays in foster children being evaluated by medical/behavioral health providers, and the 30-day requirement to see a primary care physician is delayed.
F6
Page 148
Social workers do not visit all children monthly or make frequent unannounced visits and there are insufficient and inadequate home inspections during visits.
F7
Page 148
There is insufficient, inconsistent, and a lack of continuous education and training for social workers, resource families, and foster children within the San Bernardino County Children and Family Services.
F8
Page 148
There are insufficient mental health services and resources for the foster children.
F9
Page 148
Children placed in any Resource Family Home or foster setting are not routinely evaluated mentally and physically before going into another foster setting. A baseline is not established for the new foster setting.
F10
Page 148
The younger foster children, aged birth - four, have very limited access for reporting abuse. San Bernardino County Grand Jury Final Report
Recommendations 1
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R10-14Page 131years old: 75 abused children, 15-18 years old: 46 abused children, and unknown age: 19 abused children. Of special note, the review of the data provided by CFS included one physical abuse case resulting in the death of a child that was investigated in 2022. Additionally, the 2022 data only covers a portion of the year. It creates an imbalance in the ability to compare like data. Without a complete years' worth of results, the GJ recognizes that the 2022 data could indicate a decrease. However, no one is able to predict what will happen in future months. Preventative Measures Children and Family Services has assumed the role of parenting traumatized children who have been removed from their biological families. As such, the GJ found that CFS has made attempts at providing for the safety of those they have been entrusted to protect. However, the CFS of San Bernardino County does not have significant preventative measures to stop the abuse or minimize it within their care. Children are still at significant and unacceptable risk for continued abuse while under the care of CFS. The following are some preventative examples CFS does practice: • CFS conducts Live Scans (a fingerprint check for criminal history) on prospective resource foster parents • completes a DMV check once per year • conducts physical inspections of prospective settings • carries out interviews However, these preventative measures are not enough! The Live Scans, DMV checks, home inspections and interviews only reveal the history of the Resource Parent(s). The measures are not extended to visitors to the foster home, such as unknown family members, boyfriends/girlfriends and other residents not known to CFS. The GJ investigation revealed that these risk factors noted above have contributed to many of the substantiated sexual and physical abuse cases. San Bernardino County Grand Jury Final Report 111