Abstract
The purpose of this project was to assess the failures of child welfare agencies and how they support at-risk youth within the child welfare system. Qualitative analysis was used to analyze responses from nine interviews. Participants from Sacramento County, surrounding counties, and two out-of-state participants were selected by using a snowball sampling method. Three themes emerged in the findings: overworked child welfare workers, lack of agency and supervisor support, and lack of foster parent supervision. One significant finding in this study was that child agencies and policies significantly impacted a child welfare worker’s ability to perform effectively. Additionally, practical casework in child welfare was affected considerably by policies, negligence of child welfare agencies, agency biases, and racial prejudices. The implications for social work policy and practice are discussed.