Workers in Fatal Child Abuse Case Removed

Responding to outrage over the death of a Canoga Park toddler who was beaten by his mother, the chief of Los Angeles County’s child protection agency said Tuesday that some of the social workers who failed to remove the 2-year-old boy from his abusive home have been fired or suspended.

David Sanders, director of the Department of Children and Family Services, also told county supervisors that he is taking steps to ensure such a tragedy does not occur again. His plan -- ordered two weeks ago by the board -- includes tighter supervision of social workers, improving how information is documented and pairing investigators with public health nurses when repeated allegations of abuse involve young children.

He also outlined a new “death review protocol” for how his agency would handle future cases.

In last fall’s Canoga Park case, Claudia Merlos, 19, told police she punched her son, Ivan, and did not call paramedics because she feared he would be taken away from her. She has been charged with murder. Before the boy’s Oct. 1 death, social workers had received six reports suggesting that he had been abused.

County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said she believed that Sanders’ plan was a step in the right direction.

But Supervisor Gloria Molina said protocols issued in the past amounted to “endless words” that have not been very effective in preventing deaths. “Unfortunately, what the case tells me is that we still have supervisors and social workers who are not doing their jobs,” she said.

The new approach, to be implemented by the end of March, requires that within 24 hours of a suspicious death involving a child, an investigation team would review files and interview employees handling the case, Sanders said. Within 48 hours, the team would provide Sanders with a recommendation on whether a social worker should be temporarily removed from duty -- so that an inept worker or supervisor would not handle other cases. Within 72 hours, the team would develop an initial plan to address what went wrong. Within 10 days there would be recommendations for corrective measures.