CHILD-ABUSE REPORTS SOAR IN L.A. ALMOST 16,000 NEW CASES IN 1 MONTH STRAIN COUNTY SOCIAL AGENCY, COURT.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

The number of child abuse cases in Los Angeles County has jumped 36 percent in the last two months, Peter Digre, the county's Children and Family Services Department director, said Friday.

The surge seems to be driven by the impact of high-profile cases, such as the death of 2-year-old Lance Helms, upon doctors, nurses, teachers, police and others who are required to report it when they suspect child abuse, Digre said.

According to department records, there were 15,002 cases assessed and opened in January, and an additional 15,933 in February - more than 25 percent higher than the totals for those months in 1994 and 1995.

The number of court petitions to remove children from their families also rose 36 percent, from 1,611 in December to 2,191 in January. In February, 2,114 petitions were filed, county records show.

``It just went up like a rocket,'' Digre said. ``It usually goes up a little in January (compared with December), but this was unprecedented.''

The higher caseloads, which have strained the department's resources, are mirrored throughout the system: from initial reports, to opened cases, to investigations and petitions for dependency court to place children in the county's foster-care system.

The pressure has been felt most by the department's 2,300 social workers. About 500 of those workers carry caseloads higher by at least 25 percent than the standard for the department, Digre said. Most of the other social workers are overburdened, too, he said.

``If more than 500 social workers are 25 percent or more above the caseload cap, that means everybody else is right at it, because we try to spread the cases pretty evenly through the department,'' Digre said. ``The phones are ringing off the hook.''

Digre said he has been forced to shift dozens of administrative positions to investigative jobs.

He said he is relying largely on federal and state funds to add up to 435 more social workers, but most of them have not yet been hired.

He said 64 social worker trainees have graduated from the department's academy this year, and another 64 will graduate next week.

The court system's workload has also ballooned, so that judges typically can spend no more than about 15 minutes evaluating each case, said Juvenile Court manager John Walker.

``Definitely the staff are feeling the strain in terms of the workload,'' Walker said.

Digre said the county has seen a steady climb in abuse cases over the years, punctuated periodically by social changes. Caseloads surged in 1986 at the start of a crack epidemic that devastated many Los Angeles families, and again in 1991, when the region's economy plunged and destabilized many homes.

But Digre said the most recent surge seems to have been driven by awareness.

He said those required by law to report child abuse are getting the message as the result of the attention paid by lawmakers and others to the worst cases.

There have been investigations, hearings and state legislation.

``We're seeing a lot of sensitivity to safety issues this year in the Legislature,'' Digre said. ``That frankly wasn't there last year.''