For the last 27 years, as both a social worker and a child abuse lawyer, Ms. Iglesias has served an essential role in the field of child abuse and neglect in Los Angeles, County.
Having earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan, Ms. Iglesias began her career as a clinical social worker and therapist at a residential facility for abused children. After several years, she was inspired to attend law school to become an advocate for children and families involved in Dependency proceedings.
A certified Child Welfare Law Specialist with 22 years of legal experience, Ms. Iglesias is a seasoned manager with expertise in the areas of child welfare law and child development. In 1992, she began her legal career at the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles (CLC), the largest children’s law firm in the nation, where she served initially as a staff attorney handling complex and high-profile cases; and later as a supervising attorney, providing oversight, extensive training and performance management of staff attorneys. As a Certified National Institute of Trial Attorneys (NITA) Trainer, Ms. Iglesias travelled throughout the United States training trial skills, critical thinking and best practices to Judges, attorneys, social workers, caregivers and law students.
At CLC, Ms. Iglesias pushed forward legislation supporting relative placements (WIC 366.26 (b)); improving the well-being of foster children through the establishment of the “Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard” (WIC 362.04); and ensuring better outcomes for Cross-Over Youth through the use
of multi-disciplinary teams (WIC 241.1). Ms. Iglesias worked closely with elected officials, their staff and other advocates to accomplish these important legislative reforms, which continue to support widespread outcomes improvements for abused and neglected children statewide.
As Special counsel to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors at the Children’s Special Investigation Unit (CSIU), Ms. Iglesias applied her in-depth knowledge and experience to assessing the internal practices, policies and procedures, technological barriers, funding requirements, state regulations and federal laws pertaining to all departments involved in select child fatality and critical incident cases. She facilitated communication, coordination and integration between County Departments, community partners and other stakeholders in order to identify systemic barriers and to issue recommendations to the Board for departmental reforms.
Ms. Iglesias joined the Department of Children and Family Services as the Senior Deputy Director in 2014 where she manages the Office of Litigation and Risk Management Division.
