Orange County Social Services Agency

It seemed too outrageous to be true: The Orange County Social Services Agency had taken a 4-year-old boy from his parents simply because their house was too messy, and an appeals court--to remedy the appalling error--was returning the child to his parents. In reversing a lower court decision, the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana said that "an exposed light socket" and other "trivial" housekeeping deficiencies were not enough to remove the child from his home.

In the flurry surrounding the welfare reform bill President Bill Clinton is scheduled to sign today, with local governments projecting how they will retool their programs and who will be hurt, there is one spot of calm. The Orange County Social Services Agency, which administers welfare programs to the county's poor, is sitting still. It has no new plans and is making no projections. "We have not done that exercise," said Angelo Doti, director of the agency's financial assistance department.

After waiting four hours, Linda Sharp was led to a tiny cubicle by a welfare worker. She spilled out the intimate details of her life to the stranger: Bank accounts? None. Cars? She borrowed a neighbor's to get here. Jobs? None. Information on the father of her children? Little. Then the worker, Gina Swank, broke the news to the 43-year-old single mother of twins: no chance of a lifetime on welfare.

A confidential draft report of the Orange County Social Services Agency says it should stop recommending to Juvenile Court judges that pregnant adolescent girls under its protection be allowed to marry their adult male sex partners.

When I read stories like the one describing what happened to Carl Dick on Friday, I tell myself that it's all a big put-on. Sure, he lost in court and is supposed to pay $17,000, but I tell myself that afterward he goes into a room and the officers of the court take him aside and say, "Hey, Carl, we had to do that, but don't worry about paying us. Just go on home."

The Huntington Beach boy, taken from his parents by social workers worried about his unkempt surroundings, could go home as early as next week, county administrators said Friday. Larry Leaman, director of the Orange County Social Services Agency, said his staff would not appeal a ruling by a state appellate court ordering the 4-year-old released from a Buena Park foster home, where he has lived since April.

Many families who pledge to financially support elderly or disabled immigrants are shirking their responsibilities, forcing some new arrivals onto government welfare programs and making the federal government's sponsorship requirement "a sham," an Orange County official said at a Senate subcommittee hearing Tuesday. "Currently it's a sham, and we're left holding the bag," said Angelo Doti, director of financial assistance for the Orange County Social Services Agency.

An appellate court has assailed Orange County's Social Services Agency for removing a 4-year-old boy from his home because his parents were poor housekeepers. The case involved a possibly autistic boy, identified as Paul E. of Huntington Beach, who was placed in a foster home in May after social workers reported that his parents kept a messy house. That punishment is usually reserved for cases in which children are seriously abused or face great harm in their current living conditions.

Carl Dick had been prepared for the worst, but his eyes still watered when he heard the news Friday: Though his ex-wife had hidden their three girls from him for years, he still was ordered to reimburse the county $17,000 for welfare the children received in his absence. On Friday, he stood with his new wife, Holly, the girls--Jennifer, 14, and twins Christina and Carla, 13--and son Keith, 10, and tried to take comfort from his lawyer, who promised they would appeal.

Looking directly into the camera with chocolate-brown eyes framed by long black lashes, Pedro asks for something that most children his age take for granted: "I need love, I need a home, I need a family." The lines Pedro sings are part of a rap song he composed and videotaped in the hope that someday, someone looking to add to their family will hear his message and decide to take the 13-year-old home.