OPINION
October 11, 2011
Large government agencies with vital missions, such as the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, can run properly only on the strength of selfless work, courageous leadership, responsible oversight — and data. Managers and policymakers need accurate, consistent and complete statistics, and they need to demonstrate that they have chosen the right outcomes to measure. Otherwise, there is no way for them, or the public, to know whether they are succeeding. In October 2010, county supervisors found themselves unable to measure the performance of DCFS because they believed they lacked consistent data from year to year on the number of children who had died as a result of abuse or neglect.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
August 19, 2009 | Garrett Therolf
Los Angeles County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to launch an investigation into potential flaws in the child welfare system that might have played a role in the deaths of three children over the last month. Child welfare authorities had at one point investigated the care of the three children who died. Statistics show that in the last three years, a dozen children or more have died annually as a result of abuse or neglect despite the fact that their cases had come to the attention of social workers.
OPINION
April 10, 2010
Puppy beating trial Re "Puppy beating brings 90-day jail sentence," April 3 Jerry Austin, a friend of Glynn Johnson, the man sentenced recently for beating a puppy, was quoted as saying the trial had "dehumanized" Johnson and "humanized" a dog. "That is unfortunate," Austin said. That's a clever way to frame this, but it doesn't change the facts of the case. The trial isn't what brought discredit and shame to Johnson -- his own behavior is. The Times reports that Johnson bludgeoned a 6-month-old puppy at least 12 times in the head with a 12-pound rock.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
August 2, 2011 | By Rong-Gong Lin II and Garrett Therolf, Los Angeles Times
The interim chief of Los Angeles County's troubled child welfare agency is quitting, a spokesman confirmed Monday. The resignation of Jackie Contreras, effective Sept. 16, is the third departure by an agency director in nine months. Trish Ploehn, the embattled former chief, was forced out in December. In May, her replacement, Antonia Jimenez, quit after defying the Board of Supervisors' plan to reform the Department of Children and Family Services. The agency has been under scrutiny since reports in The Times that more than 70 children had died since 2008 of abuse or neglect after coming to the attention of county social workers.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 3, 2010 | By Kim Christensen
A review of computer systems around the country has yielded potential information-sharing fixes that might prevent deaths or injuries in the child-welfare system here, Los Angeles County officials said Friday, but none can be put in place without legislative changes. Among the likely contenders to replace the county's much-maligned computer system, known as the Family and Children's Index, is a Web-based portal, similar to a search engine, that would allow authorized users to freely exchange information.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
February 6, 2010 | By Garrett Therolf
Los Angeles County's top child welfare official pulled back Friday from her published comments in The Times that the department was suspending efforts to reduce the number of children in foster care. Trish Ploehn, director of the county Department of Children and Family Services, was quoted in an article Friday as saying the efforts would continue "only when I can assure everyone that the work we do results in safety for the child who is going home" to his or her family. After a flurry of criticism flooded her e-mail and voice mail, Ploehn issued a press release later in the day backing off those remarks.