Already in the first weeks of 2015, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the county’s acting Chief Executive Officer have taken action to improve collaboration and make structural changes that should speed up child welfare system reforms.

Such reforms are much needed and timely. New findings from a study by the Children’s Data Network at the University of Southern California School of Social Work found that almost 1 in 7 California children (14.8 percent) were reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) for suspected child abuse or neglect before age five. The numbers by counties varied . . .