Leslie Gilbert-Lurie

Earlier this week, the “transition team” charged with ensuring that Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors remains committed to seeing through a massive child protection reform effort disbanded. This marks the close of the second chapter in a process that started back in June of 2013, when Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Michael Antonovich issued a motion calling for the creation of a Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection.

The transition team tasked with implementing widespread child protection reforms in Los Angeles officially handed the reins to the newly established Office of Child Protection yesterday. Dr. Mitchell Katz, co-chair of the transition team, introduced the motion to sunset the team.

The transition team appointed to initiate sweeping child protection reform in Los Angeles met for the first time in 2015 this week, and seemed to embrace an optimistic attitude. “A lot of times you wonder if this is going to be shelved, these recommendations, and what I’m seeing is that it’s alive and well, and we’re moving forward,” said Richard Martinez during the January 12 meeting.

In what may be one of its final sessions, the transition team tasked with implementing widespread reforms to Los Angeles County’s child protection system expressed frustration at the lack of progress towards naming a leader to the yet-to-be created Office of Child Protection.

A version of this story was first published in LA Weekly’s news blog.  For more than a year, Los Angeles County, home to the largest child protection system in the world, has been grappling with how to keep its children safe.

On Tuesday, the transition team tasked with implementing the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection called on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to move faster toward increased child safety.

Despite the expected bureaucratic challenges that come with navigating Los Angeles County’s vast administration, the transition team appointed by the Board of Supervisors to oversee reforms to the child protection system showed clear signs of progress at a meeting last Friday.