Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court

After 18 years on the bench, Judge Margaret Henry will step down as a judge at Los Angeles County’s Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court. On Tuesday, she was honored by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for her work, including establishing the 18 and Up Courtroom, a pioneering court designed to address the needs of young people in extended foster care, ages 18 to 21.

Sacramento County could hold the key to better addressing widespread substance abuse issues in Los Angeles County’s child welfare system. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to create a plan to improve substance abuse services to parents facing the removal of their children in dependency court by creating a family treatment court modeled on a program used in Sacramento.

A bill in California has been introduced that would determine a caseload standard for dependency court judges who preside over child welfare proceedings. Assembly Bill 859 would require the state legislature to analyze the current average caseloads in the county-run dependency court system and identify an “appropriate” cap on the number of cases these judges could carry at any given time.

Early on a cloudy February morning, streets slick with the steady drip of rain, a few figures are starting to make the climb up the hill to the teeming nerve center of family crisis in Los Angeles County.

A California advocacy group hopes to draw current and former foster youth to sexual health education with the most time-tested incentive there is: cash money. John Burton Advocates for Youth is hosting a special workshop series on sexual health for older current and former foster youth in February, and is offering $200 for participation. 

Former Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman may have left us last week, but his amazing legacy lives on. Ed’s long career in government at the city and county level was one of great distinction.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge shares her perspective on how out-of-county placements and distant placements have a profound effect on children, their parents and the prospects for family reunification.