A Measure of a Society
In the space of a week, Tamika Triggs, 3, who was featured last Sunday in The Times’ “Orphans of Addiction” series, has gone from the hell of life on the streets with a heroin-addicted mother to the haven of a safe foster home. Her mother is in jail for child endangerment and has agreed to undergo drug treatment. There is hope now for this child, but thousands more youngsters live precariously with parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Their plight should challenge the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the California Legislature to improve the overburdened child welfare system.
County social workers located Tamika on the day her photo ran in The Times. The girl could have been helped much earlier if more people had reported the abuse or if she had been found when the neglect was first reported. Dangerously high caseloads discourage social workers from pursuing a report if they encounter obstacles and from spending the long periods needed to help some troubled families.
The state needs to mandate much lower caseloads than the 65 assigned to some Los Angeles social workers. To accomplish this, L.A. County would have to increase the level of its social workers by at least 25%. Since 1990 the number of children assessed after abuse reports to the county hotline has nearly doubled, to 203,436 annually, and the number under the supervision of the county’s Department of Family and Children Services has risen from just under 50,000 to nearly 75,000. An increase in social workers has not kept pace.
Early intervention is best, and Sacramento could help by using funds from the new Children’s Health Initiative to copy a Hawaii program that sends nurses to assess the well-being and living situations of all newborns. Here in L.A. County, authorities should consider including a social worker on stakeouts of suspected crack houses and illegal crash pads.
The health and security of its children are a measure of a society. Our young must not be neglected.
To Take Action: County abuse hotline, (800) 540-4000. For donations or comment: L.A. Times hotline, (213) 237-5480.
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