Child Welfare Official Backs Fines for Substandard Foster Homes

Group homes for foster children should pay immediate fines when they fail to provide children food, clothing and other basic services, the head of Los Angeles County’s child welfare agency said Tuesday in response to a critical grand jury report.

A total of 24 homes were closed in 1995 and 1996 for serious violations that threatened the health and safety of children, but lesser violations have sometimes gone unpunished for too long, said Peter Digre, director of the Department of Children and Family Services.

Fines would help force homes to respond more quickly to demands that they provide counseling, education and a host of other services, Digre said. The top child care official’s suggestion came in a hearing before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which also called for a crackdown on financially suspect practices by some group home providers and for faster refunds of the estimated $1.8 million annually in excess government payments.

The county grand jury reported last week that many of the county’s 476 group homes neglect or abuse the children in their care, despite generous government funding.

Digre did not criticize the report, even though it blamed his agency for not moving aggressively enough to improve the homes. He said that many of the problems cited by the grand jury had already been ferreted out by audits over the past two years.

Those audits led to the closure of facilities 10% of the time, Digre said. An additional 30% of group home companies had “impeccable” records, while the remaining 60% needed some level of improvements, he said.

An organization representing 35 of the largest and oldest foster care homes said the grand jury report unfairly brands all the facilities as problem-plagued. Linda Lewis, executive director of the Assn. of Children’s Services Agencies, told supervisors that members of the organization have met standards, set by independent agencies such as the Child Welfare League of America, that far exceed state licensing requirements.

Digre and several members of the board complained that state law prevents grand jury members from discussing the details of their report, including the identity of problem facilities.

County Counsel DeWitt Clinton said the confidentiality law was designed for criminal hearings before the grand jury--protecting individuals from being tainted by unfair accusations in which they are not indicted. But the law does not make an exception for occasions when the juries, seated in many counties, act in their capacity as government watchdog agencies.

The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to send a letter to the state Legislature supporting a bill that would remove this “gag order” when grand juries are involved in noncriminal matters.

The board also approved Supervisor Don Knabe’s proposal that the Department of Children and Family Services move more quickly to recover an estimated $1.8 million in overpayments to group homes and that the state tighten restrictions to prevent home operators from charging the government above-market rents.

About 100 social workers attended the Board of Supervisors meeting and loudly supported fellow employees who said the key to protecting children in the homes is reducing workers’ caseloads and paperwork so they have more time to check up on children. “Right now, we no longer see faces,” said one of the workers, Lucille Carmona. “We just see statistics.”

Board Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky pledged to try to hire enough workers to cut caseloads, but warned that the task would be difficult for the overburdened county treasury. The supervisors set a follow-up hearing for June 3.

Sue Thompson, an administrator with Court Appointed Special Advocates of Los Angeles, said the county officials should not use the absence of direct testimony by grand jury members as an excuse to delay reforms.

The problems “have been going on for several years,” said Thompson. “Please do not dismiss this report. It is vital. It is true.”