Improve Child Welfare System or Else, County Told : Social services: State oversight of the troubled local agency will continue and takeover still is possible unless plans for change pass muster, officials say.

As Los Angeles County officials continue their battle to fend off a state takeover of the Department of Children’s Services, legislators on Tuesday conducted a wide-ranging hearing in which they demanded dramatic improvements in child welfare programs and continued state oversight of the troubled agency.

“The Legislature is in this time,” declared Sen. Bill Greene (D-Los Angeles), co-chairman of the hearing with Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Los Angeles). “There is no way in the world that we can turn and walk away. . . . I am not going to allow L.A. County to take back anything carte blanche.”

Loren Suter, deputy director of the state Department of Social Services, said that whether or not his agency assumes control of the county department, state officials will continue to monitor Los Angeles County’s performance closely for the next two years.

“We are in it for the long haul,” Suter told the legislators. “We are committed to see change along with you folks.”

The county department, under the leadership of an interim manager, is struggling to recover from a scandal in its foster-care system and a management shake-up that began in August with the resignation of former Director Robert L. Chaffee.

Tuesday’s hearing, held at Los Angeles City Hall, lasted 5 1/2 hours and was billed as a progress report. It came two weeks before the department is to present the Legislature with a plan for improving services to its 50,000 abused and neglected children.

The so-called “compliance plan” is essential if the county is to keep control of its $457-million child welfare system. It will respond to a formal list of complaints issued by the state--among them that county social workers do not make regular visits to the children they counsel and that the county department does not respond quickly enough to serious reports that children are in danger.

The plan is due Oct. 1. If the Legislature is not satisfied with it, the state may take over the county department.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Greene and Friedman praised interim manager Elwood Lui for helping to restore public confidence in the system and for quickly responding to the state’s complaints. Both also insisted on seeing real changes in services--not just plans for change--before the state backs away from its takeover threat.

“I would say that there is reason for hope,” Friedman said afterward. “But until there is real performance improvement, I can’t express optimism.”