By: Anna Chuang

The Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services are currently using unlicensed hotel rooms to give foster adolescents a place to stay. There is an overwhelming number of youths that don’t have a home, as there are very few families who are willing to foster these troubled children at the moment.

These young people have been isolated from their families, have mental health disorders, have suffered from trauma, or have been abused. Many of them are violent and have had problems with drugs. It is difficult to find homes for them, and even if officials found families willing to take them in, the youth can refuse their placement. Additionally, the family can decide to rescind their offer at any time after they agree to foster them.

With the number of these youths growing tremendously, the department has no other choice but to place them in hotels. This course of action is very dangerous for social workers who are assigned to look after the kids. One woman, who was a social worker for the Department of Children and Family Services, had a 16-year-old foster boy physically and sexually assault her.

She had deep bruises around her eyes, arms, and legs, and had a telephone cord wound around her neck. The department did not inform her that she was looking after a boy that had a violent history, and the social worker blamed the department for not doing so. There were several other workers who experienced similar situations.

The county is struggling to find a place for the children to stay in that will be equitable for the workers and the kids. According to the Los Angeles Times, David Green, a county social worker who leads SEIU Local 721, said, “A lot of social workers, they can call 20 different foster families, and they’ll just say no. They’re just left without any other alternative. That’s not fair for the kids. It’s not fair for the social workers.”