How to fix L.A. County's broken child welfare system

How to fix L.A. County's broken child welfare system
The focus must be on getting at-risk kids into safe homes. The Sheriff's Department should handle abuse investigations. And there must be an independent, public review of serious injuries and deaths.

By Wendy Ramallo
August 6, 2010

Another child death, another vote by Los Angeles County supervisors.

Miguel Padilla, Lazhanae Harris, Nicole Haas and now 11-year-old Jorge Tarin, who hanged himself in June, are just a few of the hundreds of children who have died when they should have been protected by Los Angeles County's child welfare and juvenile justice systems. News reports said Jorge's caseworker didn't have the technology to get the facts that might have prevented his suicide. But children don't lose their lives because of the lack of a wireless computer card. Time and time again, they die because of a negligent system.

Jorge lived in a world of neglect and violence. His home didn't become dangerous overnight. He should have been removed from his abusers long ago. When you leave children in dangerous homes or send them back to such homes, at best you're severely damaging them psychologically, and at worst you're playing Russian roulette with their lives.

Yet the number of children removed from abusive homes in Los Angeles County is artificially low because of an unacceptable backlog of investigations, and because thousands more "act out" and end up transferred to supervision under the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

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If the social workers we are sending out do not have the basic common sense needed to keep a child out of danger, or the skill and resources necessary to supervise a case, then the system needs an overhaul. It is past the time for studies and incremental change.

Caring for our most vulnerable children is difficult, and there are outstanding staff members in the Department of Children and Family Services. But when I worked on these issues a decade ago, the same problems were occurring. Why does Los Angeles County continue to fail?

We know that professionals in other jurisdictions get the job done: Colorado, Massachusetts and New York have instituted excellent reforms in child protection, placement, adoption and coordination with juvenile justice systems. We need to ask: Why aren't those professionals here?

Bold steps need to be taken. The county Board of Supervisors has called for an independent audit of the Department of Children and Family Services, but we don't have time to wait for that.

First, the department's organizational structure in a county of this size and complexity is fatally flawed. It's a behemoth, with far too many responsibilities to focus on its main job: getting abused kids into safe homes. At a minimum, the department should transfer all abuse investigations to the Sheriff's Department, and then work with that department in multidisciplinary teams. Many other jurisdictions run abuse investigations jointly with law enforcement or hand them off altogether — this is not a radical concept.

Second, a permanent, independent structure for the public review of serious child injuries and deaths must be put in place for both the Department of Children and Family Services and the Probation Department.

Where there is no public scrutiny, there is no pressure for change. We've set up such systems in the past — an inspector general's office, for example — only to see them disbanded, defunded or otherwise marginalized as political winds change direction.

This week, at a meeting of the Los Angeles Children and Family Commission, a county attorney blocked information about serious injuries and deaths in the system. This can't be allowed in agencies that we, the taxpayers, are supporting.

Third, the county should launch a grass-roots, multimedia campaign to recruit more emergency placement homes and licensed foster parents. The county also should consider creating a division solely dedicated to out-of-home-care recruitment, training and support. The Department of Children and Family Services spent almost $6 million on tablet computers, but when was the last time you were asked to be a foster parent?

Fourth, Los Angeles County's child welfare and juvenile probation systems must be better integrated. According to the Child Welfare League of America, at least 40% of the children who end up in the juvenile justice system have histories of abuse and neglect. In my experience, those statistics are higher in Los Angeles County. Yet the Department of Children and Family Services and the Probation Department are mired in jurisdictional competition and a willful lack of communication.

Jorge's suicide is only the latest wakeup call. Let's stop proclaiming our outrage when a child dies in the county's care. It's time to turn outrage into real reform.

Wendy Ramallo is a former senior legislative deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina who handled Department of Children and Family Services, Probation Department and law enforcement issues, and is a former Los Angeles County Children's Commissioner.

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

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