![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/wpdash.medianewsgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/OCR-L-SFORZA-FATALS-1018-01.jpg\")
<\/a>Screenshot of documents in Baby Boy W’s file. RP=reporting party. (San Bernardino County).<\/p>\n\u201cPossible drug use by the father and the mother and father screaming, slamming doors and mocking the baby\u2019s crying,\u201d said a child welfare worker\u2019s report after the August 2023 incident. \u201cThe department is worried that the substance use may interfere with the parents\u2019 ability to parent.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the larger system was perhaps not worried enough. The state of California \u2014 and the whole nation, thanks to federal policy growing out of the \u201ccrack baby\u201d era \u2014 places a premium on keeping families together, sometimes even when alarm bells screech and red flags fly. Baby Boy W.\u2019s troubled mom was heading to jail on a parole violation. His dad was center stage.<\/p>\n
At about 2 a.m. on that April morning, Baby Boy W. was awake and exploring as his father slumbered. Baby Boy W. got into the jewelry box on the shelf above the bed; its treasures included that pearl necklace, and apparently something far more treacherous.<\/p>\n
\u201cCause of death: Effects of fentanyl,\u201d the coroner\u2019s report on Baby Boy W. said. \u201cFather woke up after hearing a noise and found W. next to him in bed face down in a praying position unresponsive and not breathing.\u201d<\/p>\n Distraught, Baby Boy W.\u2019s father committed suicide just months later.<\/p>\n As horrifying as this tragedy is, Baby Boy W.\u2019s death is not exactly unique. The Southern California News Group has documented at least 46 children \u2014 likely just a fraction of the true total \u2014 dying in 2024 and 2025 in Southern California after exposure to illegal drugs and\/or neglect related to substance use. Officials left many of these children in the care of troubled families and relatives despite documented red flags.<\/p>\n Addiction is not grounds to remove a child from a parent\u2019s care in California. There must be another documented layer of menace \u2014 demonstrated proof of actual harm, severe neglect, substantial risk of physical or emotional danger \u2014 before a child can be taken into protective custody.<\/p>\n That may shock the general public, but it\u2019s a widely known and vexing reality for many professionals on the front lines of child welfare.<\/p>\n Overall, as a system, we leave vulnerable children in very high-risk situations in order to preserve families, said a social workers\u2019 representative who, because of the harsh spotlight on child welfare workers when tragedy strikes, asked to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n That\u2019s been the push with federal regulation, in the media and in society at large, she said. The federal policy called \u201cFamilies First\u201d<\/a> measures success on how many reunifications there have been; as long as the child goes home, it\u2019s a positive number for the state.<\/p>\n The \u201cFamilies First\u201d philosophy has surely spared an untold number of families the trauma of separation. But it can result in tragedy, especially for the youngest, most vulnerable babies. There\u2019s too often a deadly abyss between good intentions and real results.<\/p>\n The Southern California News Group reviewed thousands of pages of child abuse and neglect fatality case files, and two things come disturbingly, hauntingly clear:<\/p>\n \u2022 Drug and alcohol use played an outsized role in these tragic deaths;<\/p>\n \u2022 And the overwhelming majority were no strangers to the child welfare system. With few exceptions, the dead children\u2019s families were repeatedly scrutinized by the child welfare, law enforcement, family court and\/or criminal justice systems, but the children remained with troubled families nonetheless.<\/p>\n We examined confirmed child abuse and neglect fatalities in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties for 2024 and 2025. We have basic data on 177 of them, and detailed files released under Senate Bill 39, meant to help us deconstruct and learn from these tragedies, for 110. We found that:<\/p>\n \u2022 Seven of the deaths happened in foster care, but the overwhelming majority happened on the watch of a parent or legal guardian;<\/p>\n \u2022 The overwhelming majority \u2014 92 of 110 \u2014 had histories of involvement with the child welfare system;<\/p>\n \u2022 Many families had recent allegations lodged against them that were under investigation \u2014 or had been deemed \u201cunsubstantiated\u201d or \u201cinconclusive\u201d \u2014 when the children died;<\/p>\n \u2022 Many of the parents were victims of alleged neglect and abuse when they were children themselves, underscoring the cyclical nature of the problem;<\/p>\n \u2022 And nearly half the cases involved substance use in some way. While many child welfare documents officially said \u201cunknown\u201d for substance use, or had blank check boxes for \u201csubstance use\u201d on standardized risk and safety assessment forms, substances were specifically called out as a factor elsewhere in police, sheriff\u2019s and coroner\u2019s reports.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the United States of America, in the 21st century, how can so many preventable deaths happen every day to the most defenseless, helpless babies and young children?\u201d asked a report to Congress in 2016<\/a> that could have been written yesterday. \u201cThe ripples of each life cut short extend to us all.\u201d<\/p>\n Entries into the child welfare system have plummeted since Families First, stressing preservation over separation, was embraced decades ago. Confirmed child abuse and neglect deaths, however, have held stubbornly still and even ticked up, both nationally and in California. Blame \u2014 and even criminal charges<\/a> \u2014 have been heaped on social workers when things go awry, but they\u2019re often scapegoats in a much broader system that can be tragically myopic.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a pretty messed-up system, said a blunt Dr. Jeoffry Gordon, a retired physician who volunteers on the California Citizens Review Panel for Critical Incidents<\/a> (only he said it more strongly). \u201cThe problem is, people pay attention when there is a fatality or an embarrassing case, and then it wafts away.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other dynamic is the not-so-benign neglect of state authorities. When you talk about a child fatality due to abuse and neglect, you\u2019re getting an early warning sign of social and court and medical system failure. Every one of them is the result of a system failure. We have political failures, government failures, medical profession failures, training failures, resource deficiencies. \u2026 Blaming it on the lowest person in the system \u2014 the social worker \u2014 is way off base. The problems are majorly systemic ones, rather than the failures of social workers who have such a hard job that it\u2019s scary.\u201d<\/p>\n For those front-line workers, it can be damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don\u2019t. Sometimes, social workers said, we should remove to be on the safe side. We cannot keep pushing the system to reunify at all costs. \u2018Often struggling\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t identify who the next victim will be, but we know a remarkable amount about the characteristics of the children who die and their families,\u201d said the report to Congress a decade ago.<\/p>\n \u201cThe parents \u2026 are often struggling and have backgrounds of trauma themselves. They may have drug addictions, mental illness, cognitive disabilities or previous criminal histories. They may face domestic violence at home or live in unsafe, crime-ridden communities. Many suffer from a lack of financial resources, inconsistent employment and housing instability. Often these parents are young; some have had prior experience with foster care or the juvenile justice system. Some have recently returned from deployment in the military and may be suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. These conditions, as dysfunctional as they may be, are not meant to excuse harmful behaviors toward children, but they do help explain them.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the most recent statewide data from the California Department of Social Services:<\/p>\n \u2022 More than half the children who died, or nearly died, from maltreatment in California came from families that had been on the child welfare system\u2019s radar within five years of the \u201ccritical incident\u201d;<\/p>\n \u2022 More than a quarter of these children \u2014 28% \u2014 had quite recent contact with the child welfare system, within a year of their deaths or injuries;<\/p>\n \u2022 Many of these children \u2014 17% \u2014 had contact with the child welfare system when the \u201ccritical incidents\u201d happened;<\/p>\n \u2022 Among that last group \u2014 families in the system when the tragedy occurred \u2014 41% had an open referral at the time,\u202f21% were receiving out-of-home services and 24% were receiving in-home services.<\/p>\n Exactly how the state and counties tally these deaths appears to vary, however. The state Department of Social Services did not respond to a detailed list of questions submitted, in writing, more than a month before publication.<\/p>\n How big a role does addiction play in these deaths? That\u2019s hard to say.<\/p>\n California does not track addiction\u2019s role in child fatalities. The Golden State officially says substance use factors into just about 12% of entries into the child welfare system \u2014 far below the national average of about 40%, which is dragged down by California itself.<\/p>\n Many experts and front-line workers find these figures laughable and put the true figure at 80% or even higher \u2014 a deliberate head-in-the-sand approach that ignores reality and can have disastrous consequences.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to be honest about the fact that addiction is often chronic, and we have a short window in which we can intensively treat parents and do everything we can to help them get into treatment,\u201d said Emily Putnam-Hornstein, distinguished professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, co-director of the Children\u2019s Data Network at USC, and research specialist with the California Child Welfare Indicators Project at UC Berkeley.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we probably need to recognize that a lot of these kids cannot, and should not, be reunified,\u201d said Putnam-Hornstein. \u201cI do think there\u2019s a difference when there\u2019s a strong parent-child bond to be considered: If a parent develops an opioid addiction when a child is 8, that\u2019s different than if that addiction occurs when the child is 1 month old. If the child is older, we adjust the risk assessment differently.<\/p>\n \u201cFor these very young babies \u2026\u201d her voice trailed off.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I could wave my magic wand, we would be much more honest about what the trajectory of that substance use disorder risk is going to look like in the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n Baby Boy G. was just 1 month old on Sept. 21, 2025. His family had a history of troubles \u2014 allegations of physical and emotional abuse, general neglect and \u201ccaretaker absence\/incapacity\u201d \u2014 stretching back decades.<\/p>\n The night before his death, Baby Boy G.\u2019s mother left him in the care of her own mother.<\/p>\n \u201cThe maternal grandmother admitted to having a few drinks throughout the night and being intoxicated,\u201d the files say. \u201cHer teenage son stated she was \u2018put to bed\u2019 by her friend; she went to bed on the couch in the living room. (Baby Boy G.) was lying on the couch with the grandmother. There is video footage from a Ring camera \u2026\u00a0 the grandmother was observed speaking to her teenage son while lying with (Baby G.) on the couch; she then gets up, stumbles, and hits her teenage son on the side of the head.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this time, (Baby Boy G.) was observed to be alive and heard making noises. The grandmother\u2019s son is heard telling her, \u2018You\u2019re laying on him.\u2019 Another video \u2026 shows the maternal grandmother partially falling off the couch and then adjusting her position. (Baby Boy G.) was seen as lying \u2018behind\u2019 his grandmother and his feet were viewable; he was heard whining. The maternal grandmother was then observed to roll over and lay on top of (Baby Boy G. who) was observed to kick his legs and cry, at which time the video ends.\u201d<\/p>\n The next morning, video footage showed the grandmother waking up at 8:17 a.m. and realizing she was on top of Baby Boy G. He was lying prone with his face in the couch cushion and his body between the cushions, a police report says. The grandmother picked him up. He was pale, purple and unresponsive. Paramedics from the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to the 911 call. Death was pronounced on scene.<\/p>\n Cause of death A: Asphyxia. Cause of Death B: Smothering. Manner: Accident, the county medical examiner concluded.<\/p>\n \u2018No number is an acceptable number\u2019<\/p>\n The tension in the system has always been a push-and-pull between the rights of parents and the safety of children.\u00a0The pendulum swings.<\/p>\n During the crack epidemic decades ago, a parent\u2019s drug involvement meant children were swiftly swept into protective custody. This \u201cknee-jerk\u201d approach sowed a great deal of trauma and was denounced as racist overreach.<\/p>\n Today, the pendulum has arguably swung in the opposite direction. Even as opioid addiction and overdose deaths soared over the past several decades, the number of children entering California\u2019s child welfare system plunged by almost half \u2014 48%.<\/p>\n The number of confirmed child abuse and neglect deaths, however, has ticked up, according to state data.<\/p>\n Since 2008 \u2014 the earliest year for which there are comparable statistics \u2014 2,609 children have died in California from confirmed abuse or neglect, according to the state Department of Social Services\u2019 count.<\/p>\n Deaths hit an official high of 185 during pandemic lockdowns, the state\u2019s accounting says, when there were fewer eyes on children and families. It settled down to 130 last year, but it is still higher than in 2008.<\/p>\n These are not enormous numbers, experts point out: 2,609 children in a state the size of California, which is home to more than 8 million children at any one time?<\/p>\n Still, other horrified experts point out: That\u2019s at least 2,609 dead children. Many of whom might have lived, if only. If only.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is really appalling to limit our concern or investment because of a number that people consider small,\u201d said Jessica Heldman, executive director of the Children\u2019s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery one of these children is completely innocent, likely to be depending on our government agencies, which are charged with protecting them,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you look at the statistics and recognize that the majority of children who die due to abuse or neglect are very young \u2014 under the age of 3, and most under the age of 1 \u2014 there are absolutely no more vulnerable people in our society.<\/p>\n \u201cNo number is an acceptable number.\u201d<\/p>\n County social services agencies \u2014 which run the child welfare departments that man the front lines \u2014 would agree. Confidentiality rules prohibit them from commenting on particular cases, they said, but they carry the heavy weight of this responsibility and take it very seriously.<\/p>\n The Orange County Social Services Agency<\/a> said it works closely with community organizations and professionals to support and strengthen families, as well as raise awareness of child abuse and neglect prevention.<\/p>\n The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services<\/a> has seen abuse and neglect fatalities drop over recent years. It prioritizes child safety in all assessments of child abuse or neglect, it said in a statement outlining how the system works. \u201cWith rare exception, the law affords every parent the right to reunify with their child. The system\u2019s goal of reunifying children with their family is delicately balanced with the child\u2019s need for permanence. Federal and state laws impose strict reunification timelines,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Where substance use is an issue, policies align with law and medical recommendations, L.A. County DCFS said. Workers assess the impact on children\u2019s safety in partnership with several agencies. While child fatalities are rare, \u201cwhen they do occur, they highlight the complex dynamics experienced within some families and the high-stakes, nuanced and sometimes unpredictable nature of child safety work,\u201d it said. \u201cDCFS continues to implement changes based on insights gleaned from these tragedies, strengthening its practices to better protect children and support families.<\/p>\n \u201cExperience and data affirm that preventing abuse, neglect and child fatalities is a shared responsibility best approached with investments from all of those who care about the safety of children and well-being of families. Every community member can actively protect children.\u201d<\/p>\n Needles in the haystack?<\/p>\n Richard Wexler is a fierce critic of America\u2019s approach to child protection. The \u201cfamily policing system,\u201d he calls it, which confuses poverty with abuse, targets people of color and inflicts its own legacy of trauma on vulnerable children and families.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only acceptable goal for child abuse fatalities is zero,\u201d said Wexler, the executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform<\/a>. \u201cWe seek that goal knowing our reach will exceed our grasp, but we can do better.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to acknowledge that the overwhelming majority of children \u201cknown to the system\u201d do not die, he said. Abuse and neglect deaths are extremely rare \u2014 needles in a haystack \u2014 and for decades, we\u2019ve responded by making the haystack larger.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re now at the point where, nationwide, more than one-third of all children and more than half of Black children will endure the trauma of a child abuse investigation before they turn 18, and make no mistake, even when it doesn\u2019t result in foster care, the investigation is traumatic,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd yet, that hasn\u2019t stopped child abuse deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n With hundreds of thousands of children \u201cknown to the system,\u201d how can we find more of the 130 before it\u2019s too late? \u201cShrinking, not further expanding, the system does not guarantee you will find more of those 130, but it\u2019s the essential prerequisite to finding more of those 130,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Others disagree with the needles-in-a-haystack analogy. It may be more like the elephant-in-the-room.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think these deaths should be viewed as needles in a haystack,\u201d said Putnam-Hornstein. \u201cWe can do a much better job figuring out which families have children at higher risk. We have underinvested in that really critical area.\u201d<\/p>\n Putnam-Hornstein spearheaded a study of maltreatment allegations and deaths in California over an eight-year period. After adjusting for risk factors at birth, children with a prior allegation of maltreatment, even if that allegation was \u201cunsubstantiated\u201d:<\/p>\n \u2022 Died from intentional injuries at a rate that was 5.8 times greater than unreported children;<\/p>\n \u2022 Died from sleep-related issues at a rate that was 3.5 times greater than unreported children;<\/p>\n \u2022 Died from any injury at a rate that was 2.5 times greater than unreported children;<\/p>\n \u2022 And died from unintentional injuries at a rate that was 2 times greater than unreported children.<\/p>\n \u201cA prior allegation to (child protective services) proved to be the strongest independent risk factor for injury mortality before the age of five,\u201d concluded the study out of the Center for Social Services Research at UC Berkeley.<\/p>\n The lack of standardization about what counts as an abuse or neglect death means these tragedies are severely undercounted. \u201cAll told, estimates suggest that well over 50% of fatalities due to maltreatment may be incorrectly coded as deaths due to accidents, natural causes or other factors on the death record,\u201d the study found.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a sobering thought, the federal commission said: Many of the children who will die today, tomorrow, or later this year have already been reported to authorities as possible victims of abuse or neglect.<\/p>\n This project was produced in partnership with the USC Center for Health Journalism<\/a> through its Data Fellowship<\/a>.<\/p>\n Next: Drug and alcohol often factor into deaths of children whose families were repeatedly scrutinized by child welfare, police and\/or criminal justice systems, but children remained with troubled families nonetheless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Part 1 of a series on the deaths of children in Southern California. It was normal for Baby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,2305,100,136],"class_list":["post-502323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-children","tag-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Screenshot of documents in Baby Boy W\u2019s file (San Bernardino County)<\/p>\n<\/a>Screenshots from Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office report<\/p>\nMany of the children who will die today, tomorrow, or later this year, have already been reported to authorities as possible victims of abuse or neglect. (Photo by iStockphoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a>Screenshots from Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office report<\/p>\nWe examined confirmed child abuse and neglect fatalities in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties for 2024 and 2025. We have basic data on 177 of them and the overwhelming majority \u2014 92 of 110 \u2014 had histories of involvement with the child welfare system. (Illustration by iStockphoto via Getty Images)
\n\u2018Accident\u2019<\/p>\n<\/a>One of several pages of earlier referrals to child welfare, from the files on Baby Boy G\u2019s death. (Los Angeles County)<\/p>\n<\/a>Screenshots from Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office report<\/p>\n