I am truly disappointed by the outcome of today’s vote on how best to protect the children of Los Angeles County. Instead of focusing on our social workers on the ground, who face extreme challenges and pressure to keep children safe from neglect and abuse, we created more levels of bureaucracy that do nothing to support them.
We spent 18 months developing a strategic plan to protect our children, and before the ink even dried, we threw it all out the window and created the Blue Ribbon Commission. The Commission spent another eight months coming up with many of the same exact recommendations we were already in the midst of implementing.
Today, we could have continued our efforts to implement these recommendations. Instead we created new layers of unnecessary bureaucracy that will be telling our departments how to do their jobs, despite having no policy execution or operational experience.
Our decision today has done a true disservice to our social workers and to those who need us most: our vulnerable and at-risk children.