Philip Browning

In February, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio appointed former Obama official David Hansell to lead the Administration for Children’s Services, the agency that oversees both child welfare and juvenile justice in the Big Apple.

A meeting that was the first of its kind for Los Angeles County pulled together foster youth, community organizations, kinship caregivers, and other concerned citizens this past weekend to cultivate ideas and discuss what qualifications they would like to see included in the search for a new director of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).

Philip Browning’s five-year tenure as director of Los Angeles County’s Department of Children’s Services (DCFS) concludes tomorrow, and the search for his replacement is underway. Brandon Nichols, who served as chief deputy under Browning, was recently named acting director.

Brandon Nichols, a senior administrator with Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), was named on Thursday as interim head of the department, according to several county sources.

This week, the head of the nation’s largest child protection agency surprised his staff and the broader child welfare community by announcing his retirement. Philip Browning has served as director of the Los Angeles County’s sprawling Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) for five years, the second-longest stint in the agency’s 32-year history.

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.

Last month, in response to news reports about the tortured life and death of a little boy, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors waded into the thorny question of how to predict child abuse.

“From where I come from, this is a big accomplishment. We don’t see a lot of people from my neighborhood having these kinds of opportunities,” former foster youth and aspiring filmmaker Angel Velazquez said in a press release.

Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion instructing a handful of agencies to report back in 30 days on whether or not to move 103 public health nurses employed by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to the Department of Public Health (DPH).