The Los Angeles Times published an Q & A interview with Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe today in which the supervisor commends the work of LA County social workers and mentions the time he spent with frontline social workers through SEIU’s Walk a Day in My Shoes program.
Here’s an excerpt from the Los Angeles Times
:
Q. When it comes to problems in the county’s Department of
Children and Family Services, you’ve criticized “finger pointing,” but doesn’t
finger pointing sometimes show the way to what should be
done?
A. “You can’t take down an entire department [because of
some problems]. Our social workers are doing very, very good work
, and you have
this small percentage of people who just aren’t doing their jobs, and we ought
to have the ability to fire those people. Just to broad-brush an entire
department as horrific, noncaring — I did a couple of those “walk a day in
their shoes,” and I will tell you, I admire those folks
. The situations [they
face], and that instant decision they have to make if the mental health folks
don’t show up, if the sheriff doesn’t show up: Do we keep the child [in the
home]? Teams are better than [one] poor social worker having to make that
decision, but you don’t have them together all the time. I do get a little
frustrated with my colleagues. Let’s fix the problem. It’s about the kids; it’s
not about someone saying [who] screwed up. We need some reports but not a report
every week.“
Read more about Supervisor Knabe’s Aug. 5 visit with Lakewood social workers and watch a video.