The city’s embattled child-welfare agency is hiring two national children-advocacy organizations as outside consultants, along with an expert from Los Angeles to independently review its operations, officials disclosed Monday.
David Hansell, who took charge of the Administration for Children’s Services earlier this month following a rash of high-profile child deaths, told a City Council hearing that he’s “initiated a top-to-bottom” review of the agency’s “protective and preventive functions” to determine “what’s working and to change what isn’t.”
To add expertise, Hansell said a former head of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, Philip Browning, was recruited to “analyze and help streamline” ACS’s “management structure.”
The work will be done in conjunction with former state Inspector General Joseph Spinelli, who is serving as a state-appointed independent monitor to recommend reforms.
The agency is also expected to retain Casey Family Programs and Eckerd Kids to review its safety initiatives and child advocacy centers.
While discussing ACS’s projected $3 billion budget for the next fiscal year, agency officials said police presence for frontline caseworkers had recently increased by 15 percent.