{"id":57841,"date":"2014-11-10T14:33:19","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T22:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=57841"},"modified":"2015-02-14T22:31:47","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T06:31:47","slug":"la-county-child-protection-checkup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2014\/11\/10\/la-county-child-protection-checkup\/","title":{"rendered":"LA County Child Protection Checkup"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_38158\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38158\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Gabriel-Fernandez.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-38158 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Gabriel-Fernandez.jpg\" alt=\"Los Angeles County\u2019s Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection was created after the high profile death of an 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez of Palmdale.\" width=\"640\" height=\"442\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Gabriel-Fernandez.jpg 640w, https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Gabriel-Fernandez-300x207.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-38158\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Los Angeles County\u2019s Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection was created after the high profile death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez of Palmdale.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em><strong>By Daniel Heimpel, founder of Fostering Media Connections and publisher of <a href=\"https:\/\/chronicleofsocialchange.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Chronicle of Social Change<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>In June of last year, Los Angeles County created a Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on Child Protection, charged with coming up with a plan to better prevent child abuse and protect children who had been victims of maltreatment.<\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles is more populous than 43 U.S. states, and it constitutes the single largest child welfare system in the nation. What happens here sets the tone for child protection policy across the country.<\/p>\n<p>L.A.\u2019s blue ribbon commission was created in reaction to a <a href=\"http:\/\/documents.latimes.com\/report-severe-problems-los-angeles-county-department-children-and-family-services\/\" target=\"_blank\">scathing report<\/a> delineating \u201cfront-end failures\u201d that had contributed to child deaths within the county\u2019s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), and the high profile death of an 8-year-old boy named <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/2013\/may\/30\/local\/la-me-0531-child-death-20130530\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Gabriel Fernandez<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The BRC is not the first commission or task force created out of tragedy to improve child protection. But, having watched L.A.\u2019s child protection reform process progress, I am hopeful that what is happening across sprawling Los Angeles County will somehow be different. Further, there is the unique possibility that if this process yields real gains, it will serve to enlighten other jurisdictions currently reeling under the pressure of seemingly preventable child deaths.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we at Fostering Media Connections released our <a href=\"http:\/\/fosteringmediaconnections.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/L.A.Child_Protection_Checkup_2_11.10.14_FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">second quarterly \u201cCheckup\u201d <\/a>on the developmental health of Los Angeles County\u2019s child protection reform effort. In the 100-odd days since we last took such a comprehensive look at the reform process there have been some notable gains:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/chronicleofsocialchange.org\/news\/child-abuse-reporting-system-gets-needed-funding-in-los-angeles\/8535\" target=\"_blank\">Board of Supervisors approved<\/a> $1.23 million to beef up law enforcement\u2019s response to child abuse.<\/li>\n<li>DCFS finished designing a <a href=\"https:\/\/chronicleofsocialchange.org\/news\/preventive-analytics\/8384\" target=\"_blank\">risk-modeling tool<\/a> to help prevent critical incidents of child abuse and death.<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/chronicleofsocialchange.org\/news\/los-angeles-opts-into-state-relative-caregiver-funding-program\/8234\" target=\"_blank\">department took the first step<\/a> towards accessing a new pot of state funds to increase foster care payments to family members who take in their kin.<\/li>\n<li>The BRC\u2019s \u201ctransition team\u201d charged with maintaining the reform effort made headway towards <a href=\"https:\/\/chronicleofsocialchange.org\/news\/the-usual-suspects\/8508\" target=\"_blank\">naming a child protection czar<\/a> to oversee a new Office of Child Protection designed to integrate services to better protect the county\u2019s children.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Such gains are important, not just for Los Angeles, but across the country.<\/p>\n<p>The other child protection reform process I have paid close attention to is playing out in Minnesota. In September, The Minnesota Star Tribune<a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/local\/273325741.html\" target=\"_blank\"> published the horrible tale<\/a> of a four-year-old boy who was killed by his stepmother, despite numerous referrals to child protective services. Much like Gabriel Fernandez in Los Angeles, Eric Dean\u2019s short life and brutal death pointed to systemic failures that impeded adequate attention to a child\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota\u2019s governor, Mark Dayton, convened a Task Force on the Protection of Children, and instructed it to issue a slate of reforms to improve the child protection system.<\/p>\n<p>The issues there and in Los Angeles are basically the same. In both cases, the respective child protective systems are scrambling to deal with a child maltreatment threat that they could never really handle on their own.<\/p>\n<p>The child welfare establishments of both areas would likely agree that preventing child maltreatment and adequately protecting children requires the integration of multiple systems. But as much as they may see that reality, the political will has never been there to undertake the daunting task of such integration.<\/p>\n<p>That is why the reform process in Los Angeles is so important.<\/p>\n<p>The first monetary allocation was not to DCFS alone, but rather to DCFS and the District Attorney\u2019s office to improve the shared Electronic Suspected Child Abuse Reporting system. If ever implemented fully, the system would allow the county\u2019s 46 law enforcement agencies and DCFS to immediately share child abuse reports, theoretically closing the kind of surveillance gaps that can result in child fatalities.<\/p>\n<p>The other key component is the creation of an Office of Child Protection. It is clear that the original mandate envisioned by the BRC, wherein the office\u2019s director would have the power to dictate budgets and staffing across departments, has been eroded. But having a watchdog fighting to ensure that child-serving departments dedicate serious resources to child protection could be highly effective.<\/p>\n<p>Since November 2013, The Chronicle of Social Change has published 39 stories on the BRC reform process. These stories have been linked to, reposted or followed by alternative and mainstream news outlets 34 times.<\/p>\n<p>We are doing our best to keep this effort in the spotlight. Please read this latest <a href=\"http:\/\/fosteringmediaconnections.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/L.A.Child_Protection_Checkup_2_11.10.14_FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Checkup [here]<\/a>, and make your voice heard on the reform process.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<h4><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Disclaimer<\/span>: The views expressed in this article are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The AV Times.<\/em><\/h4>\n<p><em>Email <a href=\"mailto:letters@theavtimes.com\">letters@theavtimes.com<\/a> to submit a story to <em>Your Issues | Your News<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Daniel Heimpel, founder of Fostering Media Connections and publisher of The Chronicle of Social Change In June of last year, Los Angeles County created a Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on Child Protection, charged with coming up with a plan to better prevent child abuse and protect children who had been victims of maltreatment. Los [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":38158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1480],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57841"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}