child welfare

The grandmother had been concerned about her grandson soon after he was born, and had repeatedly called the Tulare County Department of Child Welfare Services to report possible abuse or neglect.

Under the Trump administration, the nation’s pandemic-stressed child welfare system has taken a hit through temporary funding freezes, staffing cuts and Project 2025-aligned moves to weaken critical programs.

The administration’s effort to cut some 10,000 jobs at the Department of Health and Family Services has resulted in a roughly 37.5% reduction in staff at the Administration for Children and Families, which oversees childcare and child welfare programs.

As a teenager he spent time in care and, years later, enjoyed a degree of local fame as a child welfare campaigner.

And the Child Welfare League of America notes that, in 2022, parents committed 71% of reported child abuse in Florida, so an appeal to family decision-making as a replacement for laws regulating child labor is fraught.