Save a Few Bucks, Risk Kids’ Lives? : Society must not let children stay in danger-filled homes

Homicide is a leading killer of U.S. children under the age of 4. This horrifying fact was highlighted in a report by the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect. Murder takes the lives of at least 2,000 children annually across the nation, and of at least one youngster a month in Southern California. Typically, murdered children died at the hands of parents, parents’ boyfriends and girlfriends, step-parents or baby-sitters. Although these cases can’t be eliminated altogether, it must be recognized that some recent Los Angeles County tragedies might have been avoided. Warnings had been issued--but they were not fully heeded; the system failed.

In El Monte, two children--a 6-month-old boy and a 5-year-old girl--were shot to death along with their mother, uncle and another man during a gang attack last month. A school nurse, a group home caseworker, the head of a community resource center and the children’s aunt had warned county social workers about the mother’s neglect of those children after their return from a group home. Violence had not been mentioned, and county social workers have said with justification they had no way of foreseeing the shooting. In response to the warnings of neglect, social workers from the county Department of Children and Family Services deviated from their routine, visiting weekly instead of monthly. Their additional vigilance is laudable, but the children are dead nonetheless.

In these violent times, social workers should err on the side of caution, remove the children from the home and keep them out of harm’s way. When social workers warn of danger, judges too must buck the trend of reuniting children with their biological parents.

In North Hollywood, 2-year-old Lance Helms was fatally beaten less than three months after a dependency court judge disregarded the warnings of social workers and returned the boy to his father’s custody. Relatives also had spoken out about the danger. The father’s girlfriend has been charged in the death.

That murder prompted Sheriff Sherman Block, who is chairman of a county task force on child abuse, and members of the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors to call for greater training of judges and lawyers who work in child dependency court.

The sheriff also touted a county database, which is expected to go on line in the fall. The Family and Children’s Index will record reported instances of child abuse and neglect. Access to that information will help police, doctors, social workers and teachers identify children who are at risk because they have been abused or neglected previously.

Child abuse homicides have dropped in Los Angeles County to 41 in 1993 from 46 in 1992 and 61 in 1991. The progress can be credited in large part to Peter Digre, the reform-minded expert at the helm of the county Department of Children’s Services. He has tightened supervision over a foster care program that had suffered its own share of murders, and he has improved training for social workers and stepped up visits to troubled homes.

Proposed federal budget cuts and dismal fiscal news from Sacramento threaten to reduce supervision and protection at a time when more, not less, are warranted. Sadly, for some youngsters who need society’s protection, scrimping on children’s services can be tantamount to a death sentence.