OMBUDSMAN SOUGHT FOR TROUBLED FOSTER CARE.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to find funds to hire an ombudsman to assist parents and foster children who have complaints about the foster child system.

``We hope this will restore confidence and credibility in the Department of Children and Family Services whose past as a dysfunctional department has harmed children,'' Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said.

The vote to identify funds to hire an ombudsman and restructure the office in the nation's largest foster care system follows the release of a plan of correction connected to the death of a 9-year-old foster child.

The board voted in August to approve a $1 million settlement for Gardena resident Debra Reid, whose son, Jonathan, died of an asthma attack in 1997. He had been in foster homes in El Monte and Pomona.

Jonathan and his brother, Debvin, were taken from Reid after social workers concluded she neglected their medical needs. Jonathan died six weeks after he was placed in foster care, and county officials acknowledged that social workers had failed to tell the foster mother about his severe asthma and diabetes.

Reid has refused to sign the settlement documents fearing it would prohibit her from filing criminal charges against those she believes are responsible for her son's death.

The supervisors also voted in August to investigate the death and consider disciplinary action against the social workers involved.

The plan of correction revealed that the social worker who failed to notify the foster mother of the boy's health problems worked for the county for 30 months after the boy's death and then resigned.

``No one was held responsible in this case and that's why you need an ombudsman to hold those responsible whose conduct results in injury and death to our children,'' Antonovich said.