Baby's Death Tests Agency's Safeguards on Child Neglect

By LOIS TIMNICK

March 24, 1986 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The child abuse death of 2-year-old Misael Rodriguez earlier this month--after a bathtub “accident” while in the care of his father--was exactly the sort of situation the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services was created two years ago to prevent.

The boy’s older sister had been severely injured in a similar “accident” more than a year earlier, but despite a petition by Los Angeles police to remove the children from their unsafe home, they were released back to their mother. In six months the case was closed.

After a 1983 Times investigation found that many young victims were children already known to be in danger and supposedly under the protection of government agencies, public outcry led to the formation of a separate agency charged with overhauling and consolidating the county’s fragmented services to children--and making sure that injuries were not allowed to escalate into coroner’s cases.

Of the Rodriguez case, Robert Chaffee, director of the fledging agency during the last year, would say only that “in thousands of cases there may be a tragic mistake every now and then.”

Precisely who made that tragic mistake, and why, and what is being done to prevent similar recurrences is not known because county officials claim the records are confidential and that the file concerning the earlier incident involving the sister has been lost.

But children’s services workers say the Rodriguez case is not unique. At least three of the 13 child abuse deaths investigated by Los Angeles police during the last 15 months involved families already part of the county’s child abuse system. Still other children are repeatedly injured before appropriate action is taken, field workers say. Many homes are seldom visited, and cases may sit in a field office for weeks before even being assigned to a caseworker.

The continuing deficiencies in the county’s system for handling child abuse and neglect cases were outlined in a 54-page report by the Children’s Services Commission last week--ironically on the same day Misael Rodriguez’s father was charged with murder and child beating. The group said the department had taken little or no action on many of the recommendations the Board of Supervisors charged it with carrying out, and voiced “continuing concern” about progress made on the majority of them.

And many who work for or with Chaffee said they are disappointed in his leadership.

“Nothing is really different,” said one county child abuse official, who asked not to be identified. “There’s just a whole lot of reorganizational scurrying and endless planning committees. Children’s Services has more people (protective workers), but if there is any better protection of children it’s because of the public’s intervening and reporting, and the media.”

However, in an interview Friday, Chaffee defended the department he has headed since last April when its first director, Lola Hobbs, resigned under pressure six months into the job.

Response to Report

“I think the department is making considerable progress,” he said. “But there is an expectation that you can pass a (magic) wand over it and suddenly provide quality services.”

Obviously irritated by the report and the fact that he was allowed no input, Chaffee said some of its assertions are just plain wrong, while others ignore what has been accomplished and still others are unrealistic for a new agency with a bare-bones budget.

He acknowledged three problem areas--the logistics of putting a large department into place overnight, difficulties in coping with the soaring volume of cases, and the need to “validate” to the commission and the public that the quality of services is increasing.

And he said that his immediate goals for the next year are to fully implement a computer system, find ways to supplement his budget with funds from private donors and agencies, and to resolve certain “quality of care issues,” such as how best to handle the heavy caseloads.

Signs of Progress

But he also spoke proudly of progress:

- A $4-million computer system will begin operation next month as the first phase in what is envisioned as a way of storing and providing at a glance the complete history of every case, including health, school and juvenile records.

- Additional children’s services staff has been hired, including 72 bilingual (English- and Spanish-speaking) workers since last summer alone. The department began with 1,119 children’s services workers and supervisors and has increased to 1,246, a net gain of 127 (about 11 workers a month leave).

But the hiring “has not kept pace with our caseloads,” Chaffee said. Child abuse reports in Los Angeles County have increased by 5,100 during the last year, to 80,000, and each must be investigated.

The commission report cites caseloads of 60 to 100 per worker, and says that thousands of cases are being closed, perhaps prematurely, to get the number that “low.” Chaffee says the average caseload ranges from 43 to 55 cases per worker, and that no one office has ordered workers to artificially close cases.

Action in Emergency

- A pilot program known as ERIC, for Emergency Response in the Community, is under way in the southwest area of the county and may be expanded countywide. From a 24-hour command post, children’s services workers “roll” with police on child abuse calls or, in some cases, may go alone, in an effort to handle emergency situations on the spot.

- Conditions at MacLaren Children’s Center, the county’s temporary shelter in El Monte for abused and neglected children, have been “vastly” improved, Chaffee said. The daily population, jammed at around 300 a year ago, is now generally below 250. (The county has gained nearly 350 foster homes during the last year, and is working with group homes and other facilities to place more children outside MacLaren).

County mental health department representatives now conduct diagnostic studies of children at MacLaren and try to arrange special placements in treatment facilities when indicated. Donations and volunteer groups have made colorful redecoration possible. AWOLS, once a staggering problem, have been nearly eliminated. And the permanent staff has been increased to 288, decreasing the use of “as needed” employees to a pool of 82. (In 1984, temporary workers hired “as needed” outnumbered the regular staff).

Training for Judges

Many of the concerns outlined by the commission report involve problems beyond the Department of Children’s Services--needed legislation or changes within the Dependency Court. The report noted that judges need training in handling child abuse cases and that regionalized dependency courts, separate from the downtown Criminal Courts, are sorely needed.

Some of the recommendations involve simple changes that could be accomplished by bureaucrats’ willingness to try things in a new way. For example, children’s services workers could be authorized to approve foster families in areas served by their field office and place children directly according to their needs.

But many of the recommendations stand little hope of implementation without additional funds, Chaffee and most agree, and the Department of Children’s Services has been warned to expect reductions in its 1986-87 budget because of cuts in federal and state revenues.

“You can’t expect a social worker to handle 120 families, “ said Detective Vivienne Gomez, the veteran police detective who investigated the Rodriguez case. “They (the families) are not getting the services they are mandated (by law) to have. We can put the money up front now for these little kids or 15 years down the line for the California Youth Authority or state prison.

“Either we should do it (protect endangered children) right or just get out of the business.” CHILD ABUSE IN L.A. COUNTY

Child Abuse Reports

L.A. County

In Thousands

1982 36.1

1984 74.9

1985 80.0

Suspicious Child Deaths

L.A. County

1982 154

1984 135

1985 Figures not yet available