The Palmdale ER referral brings attention to need for out of home care investigation unit for consistent foster home review.
Children’s social workers in the LA County Department of Children and Family Service’s Palmdale office meet with Helen Berberian, Children’s Deputy for Supervisor Michael Antonovich.
Fortuitous describes the experience Palmdale social workers had when they met with Helen Berberian Aug. 13.
Berberian is the Children’s Deputy for LA County Supervisor Michael Antonovich and she was in the Palmdale office to shadow Children’s Social Worker Christina Cobla on an emergency response referral.
“Helen witnessed what I do on a day to day basis and she raised the need for a specialized program to deal with out of home care that will assist the ER worker and would be a great tool for us.”
– Christina Cobla
Children’s Social Worker
Cobla and Berberian, who worked for DCFS for about ten years including as a backend social worker, responded to a call involving two children placed in a foster care home who were engaged in a sexual relationship. One of the children had already been removed from the home so Cobla started the investigation with the other child and the foster mother.
The conversation quickly turned to a motion that Antonovich supports that would bring back the out of home care investigation unit to the Department of Children and Family Services.
“The unit would be an additional set of eyes on whether or not a facility continues to be safe for the future placement of children. It really relieves the ER worker. The ER worker’s responsibility is the safety of the children and not necessarily an assessment of whether the facility meets the standard of safety.”
-Helen Berberian
Children’s Deputy
She said the Supervisor said he recognizes a need for the motion because right now too much burden is placed on emergency response social workers.
In a wide-ranging conversation with a group of Palmdale social workers, Berberian committed to working on several issues related to DCFS.
“Everything you brought up today I am handling for Supervisor Antonovich,” she said. “That includes hub issues, laptops, paper work issues, access to public health nurses and improving the training academy. I will also go back and look into localized hiring issues and car seats.”
At issue in particular for workers in North County is fast access to forensic medical resources because of their remote location.