Report Declares State of Emergency for L.A. County`s Abused, Neglected Children

April 10--After an eight-month investigation, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection is poised to conclude that Los Angeles County's safety net for abused and neglected children is in a state of emergency and needs drastic reforms -- including the creation of an agency charged solely with keeping children safe.

"The commission believes that there is a state of emergency that demands a fundamental transformation of the current child protection system," it said in its final report, a draft of which was obtained by the Los Angeles Daily News.

"Nothing short of a complete rethinking about how the county ensures safe and supportive care for abused and at risk children will lead to the seamless and comprehensive child welfare system that the county has needed for decades," the report added.

The Board of Supervisors created the commission in June, amid public outcry over the murder of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez in Palmdale. The boy was tortured to death, allegedly by his mother and her boyfriend, after social workers repeatedly dismissed warnings that he was being beaten at home.

After hearing testimony from various public and private entities serving children, the commission is scheduled to approve its final recommendations today and make its formal presentation to the board on April 19.

According to the report:

--"The commission heard testimony that infants spend hours on the desks of social workers due to a shortage of foster homes;

--"Many children do not receive the minimally required monthly visits by caseworkers;

--"Many youth reported to the commission that they could not even reach or trust their social worker;

--"Testimony included widespread reports of rude or dismissive treatment, a feeling of re-victimization."

"In eight months of hearing hundreds of hours of testimony, the commission never heard a single person defend the current child safety system," it said in its report.

But a spokesman for the county Department of Children and Family Services stressed its social workers are "beyond competent."

"We save lives every day," Armand Montiel said in an interview, pointing out DCFS investigates reports of abuse or neglect involving about 150,000 children annually while also serving about 35,000 children who have been taken from their own homes because of abuse or neglect.

He said "very, very few" of the DCFS's active cases end in tragedy.

Commission chairman David Sanders -- who headed the DCFS before becoming an executive at a nonprofit foundation -- criticized the county's child protection system for not having an integrated approach and reacting to crises instead of preventing them.

He urged the board to issue a mandate that child safety is a top priority, and to direct its various departments -- DCFS, Sheriff, Public Health, Mental Health, Health Services, Public Social Services, Housing, Probation, Office of Education and various other agencies -- to strategize together and blend funding streams, overseen by a new Office of Child Protection with the authority to move resources and staff across relevant departments.

"The county government has a $25 billion budget and a staff of 100,000 and we think there's a way to create an alignment of those services necessary to ensure safety for children," Sanders said by phone from Seattle, where he works at Casey Family Programs.

"We're not looking at another layer of bureaucracy that would inhibit the kind of improvement we're talking about," he added. "We believe most of the proposals can be accomplished within the current spending of the county."

The commission said the board should issue a countywide mandate to improve child safety; identify the most vulnerable children; create medical hubs; send social workers out with nurses in certain cases; continue to hire social workers to improve caseload ratios; recruit more foster care providers; streamline the placement of children in foster care; and have staff from various agencies train together and share data.

It added that until the Office of Child Protection is created, reforms should be monitored by a still-to-be-created Oversight Team.

"I think the matter is urgent," said Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who authored the motion to create the commission. "I feel very strongly that implementing the recommendations is key to the success of us changing the conditions to make children safe."

Copyright 2014 - Daily News, Los Angeles