COUNTY SEEKING WAIVER $250 MILLION WOULD BE TARGETED FOR FAMILIES.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

A recent state report that found counties earn more money putting children in foster care than in keeping them out prompted Los Angeles County supervisors to seek federal approval to use $250 million in child welfare funds to help solve family problems.

The vote allows the troubled Department of Children and Family Services to begin negotiating for a waiver that would allow the nation's largest child protective system to spend a good chunk of its annual $1.4 billion budget on services to help troubled families.

DCFS now spends less than $30 million a year to help families with financial difficulties, substance abuse and other problems that bring them to the attention of child protection services.

The vast majority of the budget goes to pay for the average $30,000 a year cost of keeping a child in foster care. In some cases, the costs exceed $150,000 per child.

But the system has long been criticized for the poor care it provides children in foster care, who are six to seven times more likely to be mistreated in the system than in the general population.

DCFS officials don't expect a decision from Washington until March.

DCFS Director David Sanders said experts have estimated that as many as half of the county's 75,000 children in foster and adoptive homes could have been left in their parents' care if the appropriate services had been provided.

He said the way the system is now funded is inflexible and forces the agency to provide ``ineffective and overly intrusive'' services that are ``often detrimental'' to children and families.

``Right now, if a family is referred to the child abuse hotline and it turns out they need some support services, they are often put on waiting lists,'' Sanders said.

Several states are also seeking renewal of their waivers, including Illinois, which was granted a similar waiver in the late 1990s that helped it reduce its foster care population in half and improved the care children receive.

``I think it's a very innovative proposal,'' said Virginia Weisz, directing attorney of the Children's Rights Project in Los Angeles.

She said the ``Title IV-E'' waiver would help DCFS implement a 1980 federal law that requires states and counties to make ``reasonable efforts'' to keep families together if possible.

``Ironically, the federal mandate has not provided funds to do that,'' Weisz said.

Miriam Krinsky, executive director of the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, which represents 20,000 foster children, said there is no doubt child advocates have ``tremendous challenges'' in changing a system that has been in place for decades.

``There are too many children and too many families we bring under the jurisdiction of the court simply to get services they need,'' Krinsky said. ``We don't do enough to look at how to give assistance to children and families.''

``There should not be a financial disincentive that causes us to remove children from their home simply to get them help,'' she said.

Tony Bravo, president of Service Employees International Union, Local 535, which represents the county's social workers, said in his 23 years with the department he has seen far too many children unnecessarily placed and kept in foster care.

``We feel this initiative is a bold and innovative concept that will provide a win-win for our clients and the Board of Supervisors,'' Bravo said. ``By shifting funds to community resources, it will result in a reduction of (children) that come into the system and lower our caseloads so we have more time to visit with families and children.''

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com