Los Angeles Superior Court

Last week, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra weighed in by saying that California should play a greater role in protecting youth who are fleeing dangerous conditions in their home countries.  At the invitation of the Los Angeles Superior Court and the suggestion of the California Supreme Court, Becerra filed an amicus brief in the In re Denis G.

Maria Serrano couldn’t wait to leave foster care behind when she turned 18 two years ago. “I didn’t want anything to do with the system,” she said. In foster care since she was 15, Serrano felt unstable in the child welfare system.

Next year’s California state budget does not include increased funding for child welfare courts, foiling efforts by the California legislature to decrease the overwhelming caseloads faced by lawyers for foster youth.