Supervisors Move to Bolster County’s Protections for Vulnerable Children Under 5

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors June 30 advanced a plan to conduct a review of the County’s Department of Children and Family Services or DCFS policies with the goal of enhancing the department’s protections for young children ages 0 to 5. A motion authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn and coauthored by Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath directs DCFS to review its internal processes and identify improvements that could be made in areas such as case review and closure, linkage between support services at different stages in the case process, and levels of review in cases involving domestic violence, among others. The department will report back to the Board with its findings in 120 days.

The Department has already made significant progress in better protecting this population. In 2021, 51% of child fatalities in families with child welfare history in the county were children birth to 5 years old. The most recent data for 2025 shows that that number has decreased to 25%. The improvements followed an effort by the department which included targeted outreach to high-need and high-fatality areas, ensuring lower caseloads for social workers, and boosting preventative support like mental health and substance abuse services, among other measures.