The wait for forensics would have been weeks…
Supervisor Don Knabe’s Social Services Deputy, Nick Ippolito, spent the day with ER social workers in the Torrance office. He saw firsthand the obstacles social workers encounter daily.
Photo: Lorraine Cavuoti, David Green, Jake Ford, Pearl Rodriguez, Tim Varvais, ARA, Nick Ippolito, Kathy Chantraprabhave and Jolene Sagan.
With the Deputy riding along, Children’s Social Workers Pearl Rodriguez and Kathy Chantraprabhave went on a referral for an infant with a fractured skull. The social workers attempted to take the baby to the emergency hub for a forensic exam, but there were no appointments available until the end of the month. They were instructed to go to another hospital in order to be seen within 72 hours.
To
accommodate for the potentially long wait for a forensic exam, social
workers did a safety plan with the parents so the infant could stay
with the parents when discharged from the hospital, Kathy
Chantraprabhave said.Later in the day, after Ippolito saw up close that social workers’ access to forensic reviews for referrals is limited and often untimely, he called the Hub, acknowledged who he worked for and was able to get a much earlier appointment for the infant.
Normally, we are not accompanied by a Supervisor’s staff member.
“I wasn’t surprised by how much information social workers have to glean in a short amount of time, I know it’s tough work, but I was impressed by how quickly things change and the level of detail of the questions they asked and the information they gathered.
“We need to emphasize the successes the department is having keeping families together.”
Nick Ippolito
Social Services Deputy, Supervisor Don Knabe