Santa Clara County demands DFCS reform after another child death
Santa Clara County social workers demand systemic change after another child death
Santa Clara County authorities and community leaders are demanding sweeping changes within the Department of Family and Children’s Services following the death of an 8-year-old girl—the latest in a series of child fatalities linked to the agency.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Santa Clara County authorities and community leaders are demanding sweeping changes within the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) following the death of an 8-year-old girl — the latest in a series of child fatalities linked to the agency.
Authorities were called to a home on Lancelot Lane on Friday for a child experiencing a medical emergency. The girl, identified as 8-year-old Aurora Williams, was rushed to a local hospital where she later died. A cause of death has not yet been released, and an investigation remains ongoing.
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Sources told KTVU that child welfare workers had made repeated visits to the home prior to the girl's death.
The tragedy has sparked outrage from community advocates who say the system failed to protect the child.
"What we found out is there's been multiple calls to the residence, so social services was aware, and they chose not to remove the child from the home," said Sean Allen, president of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP. "We want immediate change at the top. We want the people who are making the decisions to be the decision-makers, not the executives who don't do the work and not the attorneys."
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What they're saying:
The death comes at a time when DFCS is already facing immense scrutiny. At a Tuesday Board of Supervisors meeting, social workers and union leaders voiced severe frustrations over staffing shortages, management issues, and a toxic work culture.
"We are overwhelmed and understaffed," said Pa Chang, chief steward for SEIU Local 521. "If child safety is a concern, then please properly manage and staff our critical programs."
Chang warned that the agency is losing staff rapidly due to unsustainable conditions.
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Pattern of "system failure"
Dig deeper:
The agency is already under state supervision and was reeling from previous tragedies before Williams' death.
Last month, 10 DFCS employees and managers were placed on administrative leave following the death of 2-year-old Jaxon Juarez while in foster care. In 2023, 3-month-old Phoenix Castro died after receiving welfare visits from the county.
County leaders admit that incremental changes are no longer enough.
"The first death was a call to action. Now all of these deaths are symptoms that our system isn't working," Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said during Tuesday's meeting.
Arenas stated that the county is looking into more aggressive oversight measures, including creating a Blue Ribbon Commission and appointing an independent auditor to review the department.
Arenas says the mission of DFCS is to keep kids safe. "And we are not doing that," Arenas said. "That is a system failure. That is a failure of the department. It is a failure of the leadership. And it's a failure of the board."