The immensity of Los Angeles County’s foster care visitation challenge is hard to fathom.
When a child is removed from the custody of his or her family due to abuse and neglect, a key part of the reunification process is ensuring that child can visit with his or her parent. But in L.A., which is larger and more populous than most states, scheduling those visits takes the county’s child welfare system 2 million hours every year.
The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is hoping that an app, like one developed during a first-of-its kind hackathon this spring, can help ensure that foster children have important visits with their biological parents while in care.
“When kids are separated from their parents it’s traumatic to be taken away, and we want to maintain their bond,” said Genie Chough, the director of government affairs and legislation at DCFS. “Visits are the best way to maintain bonds and strengthen them.”
Chough would know. Before taking her current position at the department, Chough worked in the office of Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, where she wrote the September 2016 motion that ordered DCFS to improve its visitation process.
[For more of this story, written by Marisol Zarate, go to https://chronicleofsocialchang...geles-families/28143]
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