PLATFORM : Helping Children

Those familiar with the history of the DCS know that the faint praise in this technical language masks substantial progress in the agency charged with one of the most sensitive and important jobs in the county, safeguarding the welfare of Los Angeles’ children.

All children are entitled to permanent, predictable, loving support for every aspect of their development. In an ideal world, children would receive that support within their families and their communities. Those charged with child protective services walk a delicate tightrope, balancing fundamental and often conflicting needs. On the one hand, vulnerable children must be protected when in harm’s way, but on the other, DCS is mandated to assist and preserve the family.

At Bienvenidos, one of the many private social-services agencies that works with DCS, we maintain a shelter nursery that provides temporary home for a small number of children under 5, we manage about 200 foster families and we have a Family Services Program charged with keeping families safely together. We do on a small scale what the DCS is charged with doing for one of the most populous--and most needy--counties in the United States. The faint praise of bureaucratese for DCS should be matched by loud and clear congratulations from those of us who work with the DCS staff on behalf of children and their families.