Social Work

Natasha Leggero on Ugly Americans Voice Acting and What It's Like Being 'Cast as Domineering Bitches'

In Ugly Americans, which began debuting new episodes last week on Comedy Central, wizards, demons, zombies, humans and more live together, and often clash, in New York City. At the center is Social Services trying to ease the riffs between the varied members of the community. Callie Maggotbone wor ... More >>

L.A. County Mails More Than 1 Million Letters to Itself Annually, Thanks to Big Government

You big government haters out there think you've heard it all (the legend of the $640 Air Force toilet seat, et. al.), but you haven't seen nothin' yet. Turns out that, as a result of federal regulations, L.A. County sends more than 1 million pieces of mail each year ... to itself. You heard that ... More >>

Judge Michael Nash: I'm Opening the Secret Courts in Los Angeles so Child Dependency Screwups Get Sunshine and Fewer Kids Die

God Bless Our Lost AngelsLance Helms, almost forgotten. But not by Judge Michael Nash.​Presiding Judge Michael Nash in L.A. County Dependency Court has seen horrific child sexual predators who rape their toddlers and sickos who starve their foster children -- and social workers and judges who ... More >>

Lost Boys

New research demolishes the stereotype of the underage sex worker — and sparks an outbreak of denial among child-sex-trafficking alarmists nationwide

Report: Over 1,000 Kids in L.A. County Foster Care Have Capable Parents Who've Been Detained/Deported

Applied Research CenterKids come second to border nuts, now?​Arguably two of California's most controversy-plagued government factions -- immigration enforcement and child protection -- team up for double the incompetency in today's "Shattered Families" report by the Applied Research Center. ... More >>

Appeals Court: Just Because a Woman Made a Baby with a Teenager Doesn't Mean She's a Bad Mom.

​Debra, 38, a mother of three, lived two doors down the street from 15-year-old Miguel. She had known the teen since birth, and was practically lifelong friends with his mother. Then one day Debra and Miguel had sex, followed 30 weeks later by a baby. But does the fact Debra had a kid with a k ... More >>

Melanie Soliz Gave Marijuana Pipe To Her Baby To Suck On, SoCal Police Say

FacebookSuspect Melanie Soliz.​Video showing a baby putting its mouth to a pot pipe put SoCal authorities on alert, and when they visited the Hesperia home of mom Melanie Soliz over the weekend, they say they found enough evidence to prove that the imagery wasn't lying. The 20-year-old was ar ... More >>

LA County Childrens Services Worker Allegedly Threatened To Take Kids Away From Mom As Part Of Sexual Coercion

LAPDLorghaba, a DCFS worker, is accused of sexual battery.​This official creep alert from the LAPD is especially creepy because the suspect in question is a county child services social worker who, authorities allege, threatened to take a woman's children away unless she submitted to his sexua ... More >>

'Times' Editor David Lauter Defends Paper's Coverage Of County Child Care, Calls Out Critics As Biased

The Times stands by its coverage of county child welfare.​Updated after the jump with reference to a day when the Times changed its figures without noting the fact to readers. First posted at 11:41 a.m. The Times, they aren't a-changin.' At least not when it comes to the paper's controversial ... More >>

L.A. Childrens Services Chief Trish Ploehn Had Lawyer Write Threatening Letter To County CEO Two Months Before Reported Ouster

DCFSDCFS' Trish Ploehn, soon-to-be ousted?​Two months before reports surfaced that the head of L.A. county's embattled child services division was slated to be replaced, her lawyer sent a letter to county CEO William T. Fujioka warning there was a "smear campaign" in the works against Trish Pl ... More >>

Supervisor Mark-Ridley Thomas Wants To Get A Handle On Number Of Deaths Of Children In L.A. County's Care

Mark Ridley-Thomas wants to get a handle on the number of deaths of county-supported kids.​Update: The County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday unanimously approved a motion to have one entity at the county track these deaths (PDF). First posted Oct. 28 at 7 a.m. Kids under the care of your c ... More >>

Craigslist's Defunct 'Erotic Services' Ads Live On In Tijuana, And Some Women Offer North-Of-The-Border Sessions

A "spicy blonde" advertises on Craigslist Tijuana.​Under pressure from law enforcers who said it was a haven for prostitution, Craigslist quietly shut down its "Adult Services" advertising section earlier this month, replacing it with the word "Censored." But U.S. users of the classified adver ... More >>

'Adult Services' Section Closed For Good, Craigslist Finally Confirms

Etherase​After replacing its "Adult Services" section with a label titled "Censored" earlier this month, Craigslist finally confirmed that its haven for prostitution was shuttered for good. Sort of. William Clinton Powell, director of law enforcement relations at the website, told a House Jud ... More >>

Craigslist Pulls Plug On 'Adult Services' Ads

Craigslist​Quietly and somewhat defiantly over the Labor Day weekend California-based Craigslist pulled its controversial Adult Services advertising section, an alleged haven for prostitution and subject of authorities' ire. The move, which saw the website place the word "censored" over the l ... More >>

County Leaders Propose Reforms To Lift Veil On Child-Abuse Deaths In L.A. Foster Care System

Mark Ridley-Thomas.​Following a report about how county officials have restricted information about child-abuse related deaths in the foster-care system, county supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Don Knabe have proposed a series of reforms, including a centralized office charged with overseein ... More >>

THE MOUTH THAT ROARED

Tanya Tull: First, a Home

Gang Injunction Targets Drug Dealing In Skid Row

The Row.​City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, with the help of District Attorney Steve Cooley, announced a city gang injunction in Skid Row Wednesday. The filing by the City Attorney's Gang Division prohibits about 80 gang members from throughout the county from coming to Skid Row to sell drugs. " ... More >>

At the mercy of adults

Left to Themselves: Foster Youths in L.A., a Before-and-After Story

Nobody can undo the damage to kids like John, raised from infancy by the foster-care industry

Newborn Saved Through Firestation Program

Normally firefighters drive out into the community to save lives, but Monday no one at L.A. Fire Department Station 33 had to make a move out the door. Instead, an unidentified woman came to the South Central station and dropped off an infant daughter she'd just given birth to at home. As part of th ... More >>

The Parent Trap: County Lists Worst Deadbeat Dads

The L.A. County Child Services Department's Web site has a fairly new feature -- a Most Wanted Delinquent Parent List of parents who have warrants out for their arrest for non-payment of child-support fees. This is, almost by definition, a who's who of deadbeat dads. Its worst offender is currently ... More >>

It's National Doughnut Day, Do Your Part! Where to Get Fried Freebies, Gourmet Glazes and More

Shannon CottrellLA-based band The Keyishe are down with doughnuts.Although National Doughnut Day officially began in 1938 as a means for The Salvation Army to raise money for those struggling during the depression, the organization's connection to the fried confection began on the French battlefield ... More >>

Craigslist to De-list Erotic Services

Craigslist, the omnipresent Internet personal sales and services site, is taking down its Erotic Craigslist founder Craig NewmarkServices listings, following a spate of killings of men and women who had responded to Craigslist ads, reports the Minneapolis City Pages. The last of the present Erotic S ... More >>

L.A.'s Racial Redlining of Black Children

When a horribly tortured boy enters child protection, does skin color hurt his safe ticket out?

The Survey Says: Teens in Trouble

Forty percent of Hollywood’s homeless youths ended up on the streets at some point after having been removed from their homes by a city, county or state department of children and family services. That's the stunning word from a survey conducted by Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the Hollywood ... More >>

Philanthropist Daphna Ziman's War for Foster Kids

Sacramento's politicians created a fat budget deficit. Then, local bureaucrats misspent state funds meant for foster kids. Now, foster kids might pay dearly. By D. Heimpel When wealthy philanthropist Daphna Ziman, wife of real estate magnate Richard S. Ziman, walked into the meeting room of the Lo ... More >>

Terminated at 18

Bureaucrats call it “emancipation,” but for foster kids there’s no worse birthday

Homeless Blessed

Hollywood church sells part of its soul for a shelter

A Fragile Peace

Frances and Luis Aguilar fight to get their children back. But it takes more than that to keep the family together. Tensions reach a boiling point.

All Chaos on the Home Front

Luis and Frances get a big break, and begin the rebuilding. Then things fall apart

Is the Saint of South L.A. for Real?

Jeffrey Anderson investigates the turbulent world of L.A.'s flagship refugee agency and its mysterious director, Nikki Tesfai

Laurie Collyer’s Nuyorican Dream

Things Fall Apart

If your mother can’t take care of you, who will? The story of Sophie’s boys