EDITORIAL ROAD TO RECOVERY COUNTY DEPARTMENT COMING TO GRIPS WITH ITS FAILURES.

THE first step to getting better, the therapists say, is admitting you have a problem. By that standard, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services finally has started down the long road to recovery.

Recognizing that its foster-care system is tragically broken - kids in foster care are six to seven tines more likely to be mistreated - the DCFS has applied for a federal waiver that would allow it to put funds usually designated for foster care toward directly aiding troubled families. The idea is that if families get the help they need, kids might not need to be moved into foster care in the first place.

Whether the DCFS, which is understaffed and has a track record of failure, can successfully provide that level of care remains to be seen.

But the agency deserves credit for realizing that things won't get better without some major changes, and for having the courage to try them.