ARTICLE TAG

Blue Ribbon Commission

12/7/2016

Leader of Nation’s Largest Child Welfare System Announces Unexpected Retirement

After five years at the helm of the largest child welfare system in America, Philip Browning will be retiring from Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The agency’s 8,800 staff learned about their director’s decision in a memo sent out today.

3/10/2016

Use of Shelters in California Highlights Foster Parent Crisis

The problems that forced the closure of the Children and Youth Welcome Centers in Los Angeles are not limited to the state’s largest county. Though there is some variation in how California counties deal with housing the children who enter their child welfare system, the pressure to recruit an adequate supply of foster families and address the needs of hard-to-place youth are persistent issues throughout the state.

2/19/2016

Long-Standing Los Angeles Agencies Tapped to Shelter Children in Crisis

As we reported last week, Los Angeles County’s child protection administration plans on closing two 24-hour shelters for abused children and youth next month. The impending closure is significant in that both the Children’s and Youth Welcome Centers were initially heralded as positive steps toward stabilizing traumatized children during the fitful first hours after being removed from their families’ homes.

11/3/2015

Rumors around L.A.’s Child Protection Shakeup Dispelled

Despite swirling rumors about the potential fallout of Los Angeles County’s Tuesday 4-1-vote to hire Judge Michael Nash as its director of child protection, key players in child welfare and county government do not see it that way.

7/22/2015

L.A. Child Welfare Community Waits for Final Word on Child Protection Office Director

After conducting two rounds of interviews with the four finalists, Los Angeles’ Board of Supervisors has still not decided who will be hired as the Director of the county’s recently formed Office of Child Protection.

4/26/2015

Social Worker Training Is Paying Off For MSW Students

By Sarah Thomas In 2014, Los Angeles County’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection issued a scathing report that pointed out that the social workers investigating emergency cases of child abuse and neglect were often the least experienced.

    4/22/2015

    Old Judge, New Bench

    By Holden Slattery A young man wearing a spotless suit and a tie walks into the courtroom. He looks confident and poised. He could be a lawyer—only he’s too young. The teenager, Javier, is at the Juvenile Court in Compton, California because of a mistake he made some time ago.

    3/24/2015

    Consolidating Health Services Would Hurt L.A. Child Welfare System

    The Los Angeles Times reported recently that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has renewed its commitment to addressing the recommendations of the much-anticipated report by a Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection.

    3/4/2015

    Fesia Davenport Takes Driver’s Seat in Office of Child Protection

    The reforms enshrined in a Los Angeles County blue ribbon commission report may be one step closer to reality with the recent appointment of a new child protection leader for the county.