David Green

Philip Browning’s five-year tenure as director of Los Angeles County’s Department of Children’s Services (DCFS) concludes tomorrow, and the search for his replacement is underway. Brandon Nichols, who served as chief deputy under Browning, was recently named acting director.

The unsettling arrest of four social workers last week has had a chilling effect on the country’s largest child welfare system. On April 7, four Los Angeles County social workers were charged with felony child abuse and falsifying public records as a result of the 2012 death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez.