Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services Director Brandon Nichols is leaving his post after four years, The Imprint has learned.
He has told the county’s board of supervisors that he will be departing by Aug. 1.
In a letter he sent to his staff on Tuesday, Nichols gave no reason for his departure other than it was time to make “space for the next generation of leaders.” But he hailed some successes during his tenure.
“Together, we’ve accomplished remarkable feats — including thousands of children safely reunified with their parents; far fewer children of color unnecessarily entering care; and social work practice at its peak thanks to historically low caseloads,” Nichols wrote.
In a phone interview Thursday, Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she had “nothing but incredible things to say” about Nichol’s time as the county’s child welfare leader.
“He came with a sense of urgency as it relates to righting the ship after the pandemic, but he also has compassion and empathy for the youth that are under our care,” Barger said.
During his tenure as head of the nation’s largest local child welfare system, Nichols dealt with fallout from the pandemic, including a lack of placements for dozens of young adults in foster care with serious mental health needs. Last year, the agency faced new challenges when devastating wildfires tore through Altadena and Pacific Palisades, hundreds of foster youth were displaced, and several caregivers and social workers lost their homes.
In Los Angeles County the number of children in foster care has plunged over the past five years. In early 2022, the county supervised roughly 19,000 children and youth in its foster care, according to state statistics. By 2026, that number dropped to 11,200 — a decline Nichols attributes to new state laws, better social work and greater collaboration with community organizations.
While other parts of the state and country have also seen declines in their foster care numbers, no other large California county has seen such a dramatic decrease during that time period.
“My personal north star is if there’s any way for children to be safe with their family, that’s what we need to be striving for,” Nichols told The Imprint last year. “The data shows we’re going in the right direction.”
Speaking to philanthropists in February, Nichols pointed to statistics showing that the new approach has not endangered children. Child fatalities have declined, and the number of children returning to foster care after family reunification has not increased — proof that L.A. County is moving in the right direction, Nichols said.
He also shared fears about the current political climate. Agents with the Department of Homeland Security arrested two fathers of foster children during immigration raids last year, he recently said. And he remains worried that federal cuts to the social safety net promoted by President Donald Trump — including reductions in food stamps, drug treatment and home visiting services for the county’s poorest residents — could result in a wave of families entering foster care.
“Some of the resources we depend on now may be disappearing,” Nichols said at the February event, put on by SoCal Grantmakers. “If we’re not able to access those services on behalf of our parents, once they’re in the system again, it’d be harder maybe for them to get their kids back.”
Nichols was appointed to his current post in 2022, replacing Bobby Cagle.
An attorney, he began his long career in government in 1999, working for the Los Angeles County Counsel’s office in dependency court. Nichols has since held several senior leadership posts at the department, off and on since 2012. In 2019, he became the chief deputy of the county’s probation department, and in 2021 was appointed to head a team tasked with closing the Men’s Central Jail.
