Signs of Abuse Missed

Palmdale child, 8, died last week. His mother was the focus of multiple inquiries by social workers.

County leaders have responded too slowly and failed to identify a coordinated mission and clear, measurable goals for the child protection system, a blue ribbon panel says.

Before 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez was allegedly beaten to death by his mother and her boyfriend, they doused him with pepper spray, forced him to eat his own vomit and locked him in a cabinet with a sock stuffed in his mouth to muffle his screams, according to court records made public Monday.

Two social workers and two supervisors in the county’s troubled Department of Children and Family Services have been fired over the death of an 8-year-old Palmdale boy after the agency received several complaints of abuse, officials said.

A Palmdale mother and her boyfriend were indicted Wednesday, charged with beating the woman’s 8-year-old son to death last year, officials said.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a sweeping reform of the county’s troubled child protection operation, creating an independent office charged with improving how the region’s abused and neglected children are treated.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide detectives are investigating the death of a 2-year-old Signal Hill boy who was under the protective supervision of county social workers when he died.

Some Los Angeles County officials voiced frustration Tuesday at what they considered to be delays in the search for a new child welfare czar.

A commission is calling for greater oversight of private foster care agencies and the creation of the post of child welfare czar to boost coordination between agencies.

The $26-billion spending plan calls for adding more than 1,300 positions, including nurses, social workers and staff for the Sheriff’s Department’s inspector general.

The grandparents of alleged child abuse victim Gabriel Fernandez are suing several L.A. County agencies, accusing them of mishandling the boy’s case.

A surge in demand for foster homes in L.A. County sends more children to chaotic holding rooms; the state is threatening fines.