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County Probation Department Hire Dozens Of New Workers

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The county has announced plans to hire dozens of new workers to help shore up its troubled Probation Department and meet deadlines imposed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

More than half of 94 newly authorized positions remain open for mental health and healthcare professionals and administrative and support personnel to work in the county's probation camps. Department heads say they hope to identify candidates for most of those jobs within the next 30 days.

The Department of Mental Health plans to hold two job fairs in the Antelope Valley in an effort to hire psychiatric social workers and psychologists fro the camps. Director Marvin Southard says its been a challenge to find professionals willing to travel to Challenger Memorial Youth Center in Lancaster, the county's largest juvenile facility.

The Department of Health Services is also recruiting and in the process of finalizing two of 23 hires it needs to make. The jobs in Lancaster require some evening and weekend hours, but Chief Network Officer Carol Meyer expects to fill the vast majority of spots for registered nurses, support and other medical personnel by the end of this month.

The flurry of hiring comes as the Probation Department continues to address allegations of employee theft, organized fighting in juvenile halls, sexual abuse of minors and mismanagement of internal disciplinary investigations.

The department's new chief, Donald Blevins, said the hires are key to making changes imposed by a 2008 Justice Department settlement. On July 30, the county received notice from the DOJ of "dissatisfaction with the county's progress." A deadline of October 2011 has been set for meeting the settlement conditions and then a team of specialists will monitor the department for another year to assess the changes.

A hiring fair for psychiatric social workers will be held at Challenger Oct. 12. A fair for clinical psychologists will be held at the camp Oct. 14.

(©2010 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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