COURTS STRIVE TO BREAK CYCLE OF UNFIT FAMILIES.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

Dolly B. of Panorama City fidgets, counting off names under her breath and ticking them off on her fingers. She repeatedly stops and starts over, then with a frustrated look, says, ``this is embarrassing.''

Finally, she thinks she has the count right:

Over the past 19 years, she has given birth to eight sons and four daughters and all 12 of them have been taken away by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

She says it's because she's ``a sloppy mom.''

The Daily News confirmed through county sources that a dozen of Dolly's children have been taken from her. Officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services declined to discuss her case, citing confidentiality laws.

Dolly, 41, is one of 1,025 mothers who have had six or more children taken from them by the county system - mostly for chronic drug and alcohol problems, a department analysis completed for the Daily News shows.

As best Dolly can recall, the county took away two children in the late 1970s because she and her husband were living in a roach-infested, broken-down Blythe Street apartment.

They took away three more in the early 1980s because two of them were ``failing to thrive,'' and then took away two more in the mid-1980s because of inadequate medical care and nutrition.

Since then, the child protection system has taken away five more children soon after their birth because of Dolly's previous history, she says.

Her last boy was taken from her at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar two days after he was born, she said. Now nearly 2, he is following his siblings - either to foster care or adoption.

A hearing on the final disposition of the last of the children is scheduled for next month, but Dolly said she doesn't plan to attend, because it won't do any good.

``The more I tell them I'll cooperate, the more they take away my children,'' said Dolly, who asked that her last name not be used.

``I've just washed my hands of the whole thing. We just want to put this behind us.''

Though mothers like Dolly - women who have lost six or more children to county intervention - make up only 3 percent of the 33,335 mothers in the county's system, their children make up nearly 10 percent, or 6,895, of the 70,556 children under the county's oversight, according to department records.

The 5,023 mothers who have sent four or more children into the system account for only 15 percent of the families, but 34 percent of the children, 24,173 in all, the figures show.

``When you look at our caseload, we had a small number of parents who have contributed a huge number of children to the system,'' said department Director Peter Digre.

What Digre wants is a fundamental change in the law, which will make it easier to take children from such families and to get them out of the county's protective system and into stable adoptive homes.

The problem now is that state law requires the county to enter into often lengthy family reunification proceedings - no matter how many children have been taken from parents previously, Digre said.

Many of the cases drag on for months or even years as the parents' often complex histories are untangled in hearings before a Dependency Court judge, he said.

``About 85 percent of the time, family reunification works great,'' Digre said. ``It works in tens of thousands of (cases). But when the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth kid comes along (in one family), you can easily predict they're going to fail again.''

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Nash, who is supervising judge of the county Dependency Court system, said, ``It's very frustrating seeing some of these mothers come in again and again and again and you have to go through this whole charade of providing family reunification services.

``Some woman has her fifth drug baby and you still have to offer family reunification services to her,'' Nash added. ``You think, `Not another one.' '' County and court officials say the system needs fundamental reform to make it tougher for such parents to try to get their children back through reunification hearings, and to move them more quickly toward adoption.

Many are hoping that pending state legislation - particularly AB 2679 by Assemblyman Louis Caldera, D-Los Angeles - will be passed to do just that.

Caldera's bill would require parents who have caused a child's death, had a child previously taken from them for abuse or neglect, abandoned a child or have a history of violent crime or chronic drug or alcohol abuse to prove that they've have cleaned up their lives before they can be eligible for reunification, the legislator said.

The bill, in effect, changes the burden of proof from the department to the parents, who must prove ``with clear and convincing evidence'' that their child would benefit from being returned to the home.

``In certain kinds of cases, it does not make sense to go through a long reunification process if it's clear it's not likely to work out,'' said Caldera. ``If these kids are ultimately going to the adoption process, you don't want to wait. It makes more sense to terminate parental rights and get on with giving that child a stable home.''

Digre said the current system is unfair to such children, because they are left in limbo as the court, county and their parents determine their fates.

``The danger is they'll slip into long-term foster care,'' Digre said. ``Adoption by far provides the greatest assurance of lifetime stability.''

But, Nash said the proposed legislation raises some difficult issues.

Foremost, he said, is that virtually all parents in the Los Angeles County system could lose their automatic rights to reunification, because so many have a history of drug and alcohol problems.

``We're talking about no reunification services for many,'' Nash said. ``Who are we affecting? We're affecting poor and disadvantaged kids. And what are we going to do with them when we take them away from their families?''

Nash added he's concerned about shifting the burden of proof from the state to the parents.

``It's not unreasonable to have the state have the burden of proof when they're going to take something away from you,'' Nash said.

But, despite those concerns, the judge said he supports streamlining the system for those parents with a specific history of neglect or abuse.

``Just cut 'em off,'' Nash said. ``If they wanted to pass a provision to do that, I would support that.''

For Dolly, such a bill making it easier to take away children from parents with chronic problems is ``gross, worse than gross. I can't think of a word for it. It's like what they did in World War II in Nazi Germany.''

Dolly said that while she failed her children at times, she nonetheless loved them in her own way, and that additional involvement by the state is wrong.

The Caldera bill is part of a series of bills by state legislators in the wake of last year's death of 2-year-old Lance Helms of North Hollywood. Eve Wingfield, the girlfriend of the boy's father, pleaded guilty last fall to his death and is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

Besides Caldera, state Sen. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, Assemblyman Brett Granlund, R-Yucaipa, and state Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, also have authored proposed legislation aimed at reforming the system.

``We have to do a better job,'' said Polanco. ``A whole new set of standards needs to be applied. This whole system is rotten and broken.''

``I would say in general the legislation will save lives,'' Digre said. ``The combined effect of (the legislation by) Caldera, Polanco and Solis will be less dead kids.''

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Photo: (color) Dolly B. has had 12 children taken from herby the county in 19 years. She says it's because she's ``a sloppy mom.''

David Sprague/Daily News