A Culture of Fear takes readers inside the largest child protective services agency in the country, Los Angeles County's Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS). Julian J. Dominguez and Melinda Murphy, current and former DCFS employees, respectively, expose some of the most serious deficiencies of the agency. They detail systemic core issues that include a lack of integrity in DCFS court report writing, and describe how reunification of families is marginalized or set aside and eclipsed by other priorities, including personal opinions, departmental positions, personality conflicts, prejudices/biases, and "cover your ass at all costs." The authors shine a light on the struggles of social workers in this agency, where values can stray far, far, from the publicly proclaimed mission, which is supposed to protect children and reunify families. This book is very unique by all measures, and is meant to serve as a starting point, not a solution or finish line. It will hopefully evoke meaningful dialogue resulting in reform and needed change.

In Los Angeles County, interdepartmental collaboration was part of the child welfare system restructure supported by the elected body of the County. This was a result of a series of recommendations by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection following a high profile child fatality case. This study examines how extensive is the collaboration between employees who directly work with children and their families from all of the departments identified within the Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection's final report. Literature about governance, collaboration and communication will be reviewed to understand what is meant by interdepartmental collaboration. The study will use a survey, which would be responded to by at least ten employees from the Department of Children and Family Services, Probation Department, Department of Public Social Services, Department of Mental Health, Department of Health Services, Department of Public Health, Housing, Sheriff's Department, and the Office of Education and will look to answer what collaboration looks like between these departments. Results from the survey would provide insight into how much collaboration exists, to what extent, how encouraged it is, if work is duplicated or streamlined, and if it is viewed as a positive or negative component of the duties assigned to the employees. This project would benefit LA County in providing the best service to the public and serve as a model of interdepartmental collaboration for other government entities.