Ex-Judge Will Be Interim Head of Troubled Children’s Agency

Elwood G. Lui, a retired appellate judge who once presided over the county’s Dependency Court system, has been tapped by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to temporarily head the county Department for Children’s Services in the wake of the resignation of Robert L. Chaffee as director of the troubled department.

Lui, whose appointment was announced by Supervisor Ed Edelman Tuesday afternoon after the board met in closed session, will serve for three to four months while a private recruiting firm conducts a nationwide search for a replacement for Chaffee.

Chaffee, who spent his last day on the job Tuesday, could not be reached for comment. He announced his resignation July 19 amid mounting criticism of his agency from children’s advocates and state officials, who have threatened to take over the county’s $457-million child welfare services system.

Although Chaffee said he would remain in his $106,200-a-year position through Oct. 31, Edelman had been pressing for the immediate appointment of an interim director.

“I’m here today to tell you that we have someone who will give us the help that we need to get this department back on track,” Edelman said Tuesday in announcing Lui’s appointment.

Lui said he intends to focus on satisfying the concerns of state officials, helping to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit over visitation between children and their social workers, and improving the department’s tarnished image.

“It is my hope,” he said, “that we will be able to restore the confidence that the community needs to have in this department.”

Now a lawyer in private practice, Lui, 49, retired from the 2nd District Court of Appeal in 1987. Those who know him say he had an especially rapid rise in the judiciary, moving from the Municipal Court to the Superior Court, where he served as a juvenile judge and, for six months, presiding judge of the Dependency Court. He was named to the appellate bench in 1981. In addition, he served as president of the California Judges Assn. from 1986 to 1987.

Said Judge Paul Boland, who succeeded Lui as presiding judge of the Dependency Court: “He asked probing questions, he listened attentively and then acted decisively.”

Lui will be paid $12,000 a month in his new position, and will technically serve as a management consultant while County Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon takes the title of interim director. However, Lui said he expects to be fully in charge of the department. He said the split leadership arrangement is necessary to permit him to continue to fulfill some of his obligations to his law clients. They include the County of Los Angeles, which he represents in a dispute over Malibu cityhood.

Lui said he intends to begin work at Children’s Services by Aug. 8. He will find a department that suffers from low morale and has been rocked by news accounts of mismanagement, lawsuits and pressure from state officials.

The county is under orders to present the state with a detailed plan for complying with state regulations by Oct. 1. In addition, he will have to work with a court-appointed referee who has been named to help improve the county’s record of providing children with face-to-face visits from their social workers.

Lui’s appointment was praised by children’s advocates, including members of the the county Commission for Children’s Services, an advisory panel that oversees the department and has often been at odds with Chaffee.

“We’ve heard good things about him,” said commission President Helen Kleinberg.