Countywide
Legal representation of the county’s abused and neglected children was officially transferred to the county counsel Friday from the district attorney’s office, a county spokesman said.
In June, the county Board of Supervisors authorized the creation of a new county counsel unit, the Juvenile Dependency Division, to take over child-abuse and neglect cases from the overburdened district attorney.
District attorney aides had complained that they did not have adequate time to prepare for the increasing number of juvenile dependency cases.
The Juvenile Dependency Division will employ 15 lawyers--nearly double the district attorney’s staff handling these cases--to handle the court-ordered removal of 7,850 abused or neglected children, according to Chief Deputy County Counsel Philip Dunn, who heads the new division.
Seven additional staff attorneys will handle 400 custody cases and 70 appeal cases.
The district attorney’s office will continue to handle criminal prosecution of child abusers.
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