Report 2011-101.2 Recommendations
When an audit is completed and a report is issued, auditees must provide the State Auditor with information regarding their progress in implementing recommendations from our reports at three intervals from the release of the report: 60 days, six months, and one year. Additionally, Senate Bill 1452 (Chapter 452, Statutes of 2006), requires auditees who have not implemented recommendations after one year, to report to us and to the Legislature why they have not implemented them or to state when they intend to implement them. Below, is a listing of each recommendation the State Auditor made in the report referenced and a link to the most recent response from the auditee addressing their progress in implementing the recommendation and the State Auditor's assessment of auditee's response based on our review of the supporting documentation.
Recommendations in Report 2011-101.2: Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services: Management Instability Hampered Efforts to Better Protect Children (Release Date: March 2012)
| Recommendations to Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Recommendation | Status |
| 1 | To ensure that child abuse and neglect allegations receive timely resolution, the department should continue to monitor the status of its backlog of investigations but revise its policies and performance measures to no longer define the backlog as investigations over 60 days old. Rather, it should emphasize completing investigations within 30 days. |
Fully Implemented |
| 2 | To ensure that child abuse and neglect allegations receive timely resolution, the department should assess whether it needs to permanently allocate more resources to investigate allegations of child abuse and neglect. |
Fully Implemented |
| 3 | To better ensure that inner-city regional offices are staffed by experienced social workers, the department should consider providing social workers with incentives to work in these areas or require them to remain in these offices for a period longer than the one year currently required. |
Fully Implemented |
| 4 | To ensure that it is placing children only in safe homes, the department should measure its performance and adjust its practices to adhere to state law, which requires that all homes be assessed prior to the placement of the child. |
Resolved |
| 5 | To improve its process for placing children with a relative, the department should analyze the best practices used by other county child welfare services agencies for such placements. The department should then implement changes in its practices so that relatives and their homes are approved prior to placement, as required by state law. |
Resolved |
| 6 | To ensure that social workers have as much relevant information as possible when placing children and licensing homes, the department should report requisite allegations of abuse or neglect to the Department of Justice and the Department of Social Services' licensing division. |
Fully Implemented |
| 7 | To fully benefit from its death review process, the department should implement the resulting recommendations. |
Fully Implemented |
| 8 | To provide effective leadership, the director should form a stable executive team by filling the department's chief deputy director, senior deputy director, and other deputy director positions. |
Fully Implemented |
| 9 | To create and communicate its philosophy and plans, the department should complete and implement its strategic plan. |
Fully Implemented |