CHILD ABUSE REPORT SCARY : CARETAKERS KILL 49 COUNTY KIDS.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

The number of Los Angeles County children killed last year by parents or other caretakers increased by more than a fourth, but accidental deaths and suicides dropped substantially, according to a report to be released today.

The report by the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect shows that 49 children died at the hands of the people taking care of them last year, up 25.6 percent from 1994, when 39 children were killed by parents or others in their household.

``The numbers in relation to the general population are small, but it's of great concern,'' said Deanne Tilton, the council's director. ``It may be a temporary aberration, but I don't know. There are so many factors that are beyond our direct control: substance abuse, poverty, family isolation.''

The increase came after three years of substantial and steady drops, after a record high of 61 such deaths in 1991.

But it also comes during a period when reports of child abuse and neglect jumped 66 percent over a six-year period.

The council's report also said the number of children under the county's supervision rose a third, to 66,000 during that same period and have continued to rise in the 11 months since.

The county Department of Children and Family Services has 2,500 social workers to deal with these cases and plans to hire as many as 600 more.

The Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect is a county-sponsored organization that includes members from a variety of governmental and private agencies involved in child protection issues. It is chaired by Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block.

In most of the cases highlighted in the council's report, the county department was never involved with the family, in part because neighbors, relatives and friends hadn't reported problems they saw.

``I honestly believe you can't blame the child deaths on the department,'' Tilton said. ``If the child is in the system, they're already at high risk or they wouldn't be there. But the key to preventing child abuse fatalities lies not only with the department, or the police, or the health department, but also with friends, family and neighbors.''

The report contains some good news, particularly in the number of accidental deaths, which dropped 15.7 percent to 59, and teen-age suicides, which dropped 60 percent to 11.

``It was a wonderful surprise,'' Tilton said. In both cases, Tilton said the council's focus on the problem with special legislation and programs seemed to bear fruit.

Drownings continued to be the most common kind of accidental death. But the council's push for a county ordinance requiring fencing with alarmed or locking gates around newly built pools and spas looks like it has paid off, Tilton said. Beginning Jan. 1, a new law will require similar standards statewide.

Child abuse specialists blamed the jumps in deaths at the hands of others and abuse reports on high poverty levels, a longtime erosion of prevention and family support programs, and increased public awareness following such a series of high-profile cases.

``There's a lot of factors involved here,'' said Jacquelyn McCroskey, a social work professor at the University of Southern California. ``I think what we're seeing is those things cumulatively have an impact. Here's the social cost of what we've done.''

Peter Digre, director of Children and Family Services, said there were hundreds of thousands of reports of children being injured.

``To me, the thing that's so frightening is the big jump in total reports,'' he said. ``Every death horrifies me, but even more horrifying is the 200,000 reports of children being injured by their caretakers. I think the condition of children is much worse in L.A. and the country than it was eight or 10 years ago.''

Digre's department was actively supervising the families of 11 of the 49 children at the time of their deaths, and had previous contacts or closed cases with six others, according to the report.

The cases include that of Lance Helms, a 2-year-old from North Hollywood who officials said was beaten to death by his father's live-in girlfriend.

In that case and another, the department recommended that the child be put in permanent foster care, but it was overruled by a Dependency Court judge, Digre said.

In three other cases, department workers were ``negligent,'' Digre said, failing to react to obvious warning signs before the deaths. The department fired three social workers or supervisors involved in those cases, and disciplined others.

The handling of the five cases has been at the heart of a series of battles the past 18 months between the department, the county counsel, Dependency Court judges, the social workers union and others.

Public outcry led to creation this summer of a county Inspector General's Office that will review all child death cases involving county departments.

Social workers also have complained that they are being scapegoated for problems caused by excessively heavy caseloads and excessively strict safety procedures.

A recent state audit criticized Digre's department for not following its own standards in many of 12 child death cases and 12 others it reviewed.

The child death report also spotlights areas that need additional attention, officials said.

For instance, in three cases, children had been taken from their parents and placed with other relatives when they were killed, according to the report.

``I would like to see the state pass legislation to put relatives in the same position as foster parents, not only for training requirements, but also for funding,'' said Norine Boehmer, vice chairwoman of the county Commission on Children and Family Services.

Digre said the county is the only one in the state that already requires criminal and other background checks of every adult in an abused child's home.