Thinking about what could have been ($385 million worth)

Follow through on foster care
San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Feb 19, 2007.

SURELY there are many reasons that Los Angeles County couldn't follow up with its ambitious plan to use nearly $400 million to reform child-protective services with the goal of
keeping families together. Pay raises and higher costs than expected are among them.

But in the end, that matters little to the children and families who haven't been helped with the counseling and support the money would have provided.

Two years ago, the Board of Supervisors was able to get the federal government to issue a waiver so that the county could use about $400 million of $1.5 billion in federal funds toward this goal. Now, it turns out the county was only able to dedicate $15 million a year to this cause.

It's true that the county's efforts have increased the number of foster kids returned to natural families. But just imagine how many more families might have benefitted if it could have followed through with its promise.