COUNTY KID CARE `A MESS'; 10 CHILD WELFARE DEATHS HAVE OFFICIALS ALARMED : NOT A CRASH CRITIC.

Byline: Douglas Haberman Staff Writer

At least 10 abused and neglected children in the care of Los Angeles County have died in the past two months, alarming officials long concerned about the failings of the child welfare system.

``The past few weeks have been horrible,'' said Victor Greenberg, who probes such deaths in his role as the inspector general of county children's services.

Greenberg looks into deaths of children under the supervision of the county Department of Children and Family Services when abuse or neglect is suspected, or those whose family had some contact with the department because of allegations of child abuse or neglect.

Even before the recent surge in deaths, officials and critics outside the county were calling for dramatic improvements to safeguard the well-being of children in the county's child welfare system - the nation's largest.

``It's a mess, definitely a mess,'' said Jacquelyn McCroskey, associate professor of social work at USC who specializes in families and children and who is familiar with the county DCFS.

``The dysfunctional child welfare system demands attention,'' Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said. ``It's on fire. And we have to put out the fire.''

Added Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky: ``The problems are throughout the system. It is a crisis.''

Since the Board of Supervisors created his position three years ago, Greenberg said he investigated 19 deaths in 1997 and 25 deaths in 1998. He looks for flaws in the system and recommends changes.

He still hasn't had a chance to probe the recent deaths and draw conclusions about where things went wrong.

``It's hard to say if we have something brewing here or a statistical anomaly,'' he said. ``I'm going to see if I can spot any trends in these recent deaths.''

About 67,500 abused and neglected children depend on the county agency for safety and security - more than any other child welfare agency in the nation.

Though he looks at cases where things went wrong, Greenberg is not a harsh critic of the county's child welfare system.

``Considering the sheer number of kids in the system, the department does a pretty good job of keeping kids safe,'' he said.

Department social workers make roughly 150,000 decisions a year on whether to remove children from their homes for their own safety and well-being.

Based on the most recent available annual figures, the county's record has not been unusual compared to other U.S. urban centers and to the nation as a whole.

According to Los Angeles County's Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, in 1997 the county had 15 homicides of children whose families had a current or prior record of referral to child protective services. That was one-third of the 45 child homicides by parents, family members or caretakers reported in the county during that year.

That figure was below the national average of 41 percent reported by the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, according to ICAN, the official county agent to coordinate development of services for the prevention, identification and treatment of child abuse and neglect.

In New York City for the same year, there were 30 homicides of children whose families were known to the city's Administration for Children's Services out of a total of 74 fatalities reported, or 40.5 percent.

In Cook County, Ill., which includes the city of Chicago, in 1997 there were 47 abuse- or neglect-related child deaths, officials say. ``Usually about a third'' of such deaths involve families that had prior contact with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, said Diane Moncher, who gathers child death statistics for the department's inspector general.

Los Angeles County supervisors and child welfare experts say the county's department, with a $1 billion budget, fails too often in its responsibilities to protect children who are at risk and also fails to help them grow up with the stability and long-term nurturing they need.

End up in jail

Too many foster children end up in jail or on the streets as they get older - meaning both they and society pay a cost because the system didn't work, the department's critics say.

Yaroslavsky and Antonovich say the crisis is particularly acute in the foster care program, in which several children have died in the past few months.

The department at the end of June stopped referring children to foster homes through a placement agency it had been using, Grace Homes for Waiting Children. The decision followed an investigation into allegations that a foster mother certified by Grace Homes killed a 3-year-old child in her care; that a 4-1/2-month-old infant died in an accident while in the care of a Grace Homes-certified foster home; that children were sexually molested by their father during monitored visits at a Grace Homes office; and that two separate sets of certified foster parents physically abused children in their care.

Grace Homes, with offices in Panorama City, Inglewood, Long Beach and Ontario, had placed 181 children in 85 certified foster homes on behalf of the county.

Officials of Grace Homes did not return phone calls seeking comment.

``The department has to place the safety and security of the child first,'' Antonovich said.

Partial solution

Sharon Watson, executive director of the county's Children's Planning Council, has a partial solution: ``The department needs to encourage the development of more `Cadillac' foster care homes,'' she said, referring to nonprofit institutions that raise extra money on their own to boost the quality of their facilities and services.

McCroskey said the department needs to make sure regularly that children removed from their homes are in fact better off.

``In my opinion, we've lost the focus on what would help'' the children and their families, McCroskey said. ``We're overfocused on removing the kids (from their homes) and not focused enough on tracking the effectiveness of foster care and residential treatment.''

There are more than 10,000 children in foster homes that are on an adoption track. There were 1,792 adoptions of DCFS children between July 1, 1998, to June 30 of this year.

``It's been extremely difficult for the department to figure what each of those cases needs and to move forward,'' McCroskey said. ``They're sitting in limbo rather than being processed.''

Twenty-four new adoptions social workers just came on board in recent days, and 25 more are in training.

With the recent departure of Peter Digre after eight years as director of the mammoth department, county officials say the time is ripe for changes.

Several deaths of children in foster care sparked a July 6 vote by the Board of Supervisors to create a blue-ribbon panel that will review the current system of monitoring foster homes, develop a system of tracking complaints at foster homes, and make recommendations for improvement by November.

The new 13-person committee, which will hold its first meeting Thursday, includes representatives of the county Probation Department, DCFS, Department of Mental Health, private agencies and community organizations.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Child welfare in Los Angeles County

67,225 children are under county Department of Children and Family Services' supervision.

Of those, 14,525 children remain at home.

52,700 children have been removed from their homes.

Almost half of those children removed _ 24,790 _ have been placed with relatives or related guardians, and more than 1,000 are with nonrelated legal guardians.

Nearly 10,700 children are in foster care with the expectation they might eventually return home.

An additional 10,100 children are in foster homes but on an adoption track.

About 2,500 children are in group homes.

3,575 other children are in hospitals, shelters or elsewhere.

SOURCE: Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services

LIST OF DEATHS

Here is a list of the 10 abused and neglected children in the care of Los Angeles County who died in the past two months:

A 2-year-old boy died June 6 from suspected physical abuse at his parents' home.

A 2-year-old girl died June 11 from suspected physical abuse in foster care.

A 5-month-old girl died June 20 from suspected abuse or neglect in her aunt's home, where she was placed.

A 4-year-old girl died July 3 from a fall in her adoptive mother's home. After her death, the department removed four other foster children from the home.

An 11-year-old boy died July 5 from suspected neglect in his parents' home.

A 6-year-old girl died July 9 in a house fire at her mother's home.

A 4-year-old boy died July 9 in a suspected murder-suicide while in the care of his mother.

A 10-year-old boy died July 11 in what investigators believe was suicide.

A 2-year-old boy drowned July 22 in a swimming pool while he and his father were visiting the child's grandparents.

A 17-year-old boy died July 30 from a gunshot wound apparently inflicted by his father.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo: (color) Victor Greenberg, inspector general of county children's services, plans to look for trends among the recent rash of child deaths.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

Box: (1) By the numbers (see text)

(2) List of deaths (see text)