County of Los Angeles Sheriff Department Report

To study and work on these issues, ICAN formed the Child Abduction Task Force in July 1990. As a result of the Task Force’s efforts, in September 1991, the “Reunification of Missing Children Project” was initiated. The initial Project encompassed an area in West Los Angeles consisting of Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) West Los Angeles and Pacific Divisions; Sheriff’s Marina Del Rey, Malibu/Lost Hills, West Hollywood, and Lennox station areas; and the Culver City Police Department.

In September 1995, the Project was expanded countywide. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention made funding available for mental health services at two additional community mental health sites, the HELP Group in the San Fernando Valley, and Plaza Community Services in East Los Angeles. Training was conducted for law enforcement agencies throughout the County, DCFS social workers, mental health therapists from the HELP Group and Plaza Community Services, and District Attorney Victim Assistance staff to familiarize them with the Project and its benefits.

The expanded Project is currently referred to as the ICAN Child Abduction Task Force/Reunification of Missing Children Program, and participants include: Find the Children, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center, Prototypes, the Child Guidance Clinic, Foothill Family Services, For the Child in Long Beach, The HELP Group, Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, Los Angeles District Attorney Child Abduction Unit, Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation, Los Angeles County Office of County Counsel, Mexican Consulate, United States Secret Service, and FBI.

The Program’s goal is to reduce trauma to children and families who are victims of parental or stranger abductions by providing an effective, coordinated multi-agency response to child abduction and reunification. Services provided by the Program include quick response by mental health staff to provide assessment and intervention, linkage with support services, and coordination of law enforcement, child protection and mental health support to preserve long term family stability.

The Task Force is coordinated by Find the Children. Find the Children places a strong emphasis on preventative education through community outreach programs such as the Elementary School and Parent Presentation Program known as Kid Intuition. The goal of programs like these is to educate the public on the issue of child abduction and abuse and to present measures that should be taken to help ensure the safety of all children. These prevention-based programs are also intended to support the efforts of the Task Force.

In order to monitor and evaluate the progress of ongoing cases receiving services, Find the Children holds monthly meetings where all cases are reviewed. The Task Force participants provide expertise and assess each case for further action.

Figure 1 below shows that in 2010, the Program served 60 children in 44 cases1 as compared to the 87 children in 68 cases served in 2009. This is a 35% decrease in caseload and a 31% decrease in the number of children served from the previous year. However, the number of families served in 2010 is consistent with the ten-year average of 43.3 cases. The number of children served is slightly higher than the ten-year average of 56.4 children. The decrease in the number of children and cases over 2009may, in part, be attributed to the ongoing prevention efforts of the Task Force and Find the Children.

Figure 2 shows the ethnic breakdown for the 60 children served in calendar year 2010: 44% were Hispanic, 30% were Caucasian, 18 % were African Americanand 8% were Asian/Pacific Islander. Figure 3 shows the age range of the children served in calendar year 2010: 58% percent of the children served were age 5 or younger, 23% were age 6 to 10 and 17% were age 11 or older, and 2% did not have any age denoted. Figure 4 shows that of the children served, 86% were under the jurisdiction of the Department of Children and Family Services while 14% were not.

Figure 5 reflects trend data on the number of cases and children served by the Reunification Program for calendar year 2001 through 2010. Over the past 10-year period, the number of cases has averaged 43.3 per year, while the number of children served has averaged 56.4 per year. A steady decrease in the number of cases and children served noted from 2000 through 2006, except in 2003, when a slight increase in the number of cases and children served was experienced from the previous year. Also, in 2005, there was a slight increase in children served compared to the number of children served in 2004. Then, in 2007 through 2009 an increase in the number of children and cases served was experienced from the previous year. In 2010, adecrease in the number of cases and children served was experienced from 2009 reversing this trend.

Figure 6 shows the number of cases referred to the Reunification Program by source in 2010. The Department of Children and Family Services referred 86% of the cases (n=38). The District Attorney’s Office recovered 66 children three of whom were referred to the Reunification Program. These three children comprised 7% of the case referrals, and another 7% were referred through other sources.

1A case represents a family and was referred to as such in earlier reports.