This article reports how Los Angeles County’s foster care population has dropped sharply — about 46 % over the past five years, a sharper decline than statewide and national trends — driven largely by deliberate changes in practice and policy that aim to keep families intact rather than remove children into out‑of‑home care. These changes include diverting non‑urgent calls to community supports like food banks instead of child welfare investigations, limiting routine reporting by hospitals, expanded legal support for families, new decision‑making tools for professionals, and state laws narrowing definitions of reportable neglect, all of which have reduced dependency filings and foster placements without clear increases in child maltreatment fatalities. Child welfare officials and advocates attribute this shift to better social work practices, community‑based services, and racial justice advocacy efforts that prioritize prevention and family wellbeing over formal system involvement.