"Foster-care systems are supposed to keep children safe, removing them from the kind of abuse and neglect that killed 1,840 kids around the [US] in fiscal 2019," says this article from the Seattle Times. "But a national movement is increasingly calling attention to a different and possibly more pervasive harm that comes from breaking up families. Even agencies overseeing foster care are recognizing that separating children from their parents may be unnecessary in many cases to resolve problems often linked to poverty, while causing lasting trauma and disproportionately affecting people of color."
According to the article, a local group is "advocating for a state bill [in Washington state], passed by the House in early March, that would tighten the criteria for taking a child from a home at the first stages of a case before a full fact-finding hearing before a judge."