Team

Deanne Tilton Durfee is Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect (ICAN). ICAN is one of the largest county-based child abuse councils in the Country. She also developed ICAN Associates, a private non-profit charity comprised of corporate and media representatives. This partnership promotes the development and networking of comprehensive multi-disciplinary and community-based child abuse programs. She served as a Child Welfare Worker, a Juvenile Court Liaison Supervisor, a Supervising Children's Services Worker, and a Regional Services Administrator before being selected to administer ICAN. In 1996, ICAN was designated the National Center on Child Fatality Review. She served from 1984-1990 as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse (NCPCA). She also served as a Commissioner on the California Attorney General's Commission on the Enforcement of Child Abuse Laws. From June 1, 1985 to May 31, 1986, Ms. Tilton served as a Federal Commissioner on the U.S. Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, Chairing the Committee on Child Pornography. In January, 1987 she was appointed by the Governor to the California Child Victim Witness Judicial Advisory Committee. In 1989, she was appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect. In 1993, she was elected Chairperson of the Advisory Board. She previously served as a member of the California Children’s Justice Act Task Force and the California State Child Death Review Council. In October 2011, she became a member of the Attorney General’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the First 5 LA Commission on Children and Families. She holds a Doctorate in Humanities, honoris causa, from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Edie Shulman is the Assistant Director for ICAN. Over the course of her tenure at ICAN she has had responsibility for managing numerous ICAN Committees and Task Forces; her current activities include the development and training on countywide protocols for the response to children in homes with domestic violence (GERDA); Family and Children’s Index; management of ICAN’s role pursuant to AB 1733 and AB 2994, contract development, preparation of Board Letters and acting on behalf of ICAN’s Executive Director as needed. Ms. Shulman has both a Juris Doctor (JD) Degree and a Masters Degree in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Southern California.

Tom Fraser came to ICAN in 2015 as seasoned DCFS Administrator.  His work history with Los Angeles County also includes time spent at the Department of Human Resources where he served in their Executive Recruitment Division and was instrumental in hiring a number of top executives for the County BOS, as well as serving as the County’s point person in implementing the Live Scan fingerprinting system for background checks. He holds a Masters’ degree in Public Administration from Cal-State University, Los Angeles, and Bachelors’ degree in Criminology from Southern Oregon University. At ICAN, he has primary programmatic responsibility our Child and Adolescent Suicide Review Team, the ICAN Child Abduction Task Force, the annual ICAN Cyber Crimes, Symposium, the ICAN Hospital Network Project, and our annual multi-disciplinary State of Child Abuse report for Los Angeles County.

Marianne Yamato, MA has worked with LA County, DCFS since 1999, as a CSW/Dependency Investigator.  In 2011, she promoted to an Administrator in the Kinship Program supporting relative caregivers. In 2018 she joined ICAN, where her current roles include supporting the Child Abuse Councils; AB2994 Contracts; ICAN Children’s Holiday Party; ICAN Expert Series and No Hit Campaign.

Nancy Urquilla, began her career in DCFS as a children’s social worker trainee, and soon promoted to Children Services Administrator, where she worked in Out of home care investigations, quality assurance and Family to Family liaison and later assistant to three Regional Administrators in the Pomona office.  She is especially proud of her work in the Pomona office where her focus was on the Department’s early efforts to Eliminate Racial Disproportionality and Disparity, the CA Partners for Permanency initiative and the implementation of the Shared Core Practice Model.  She then went onto work in the Critical Incidents/Child Fatality Section as a CSAII, and later transferred to the ICAN where she manages the Nexus and the Childhood Grief and Traumatic Loss conferences, and the Safe Surrender Campaign. She has a BA in Psychology from CSUN, and an MSW from USC.

Susana Montanez, LCSW has worked with Los Angeles County DCFS since 2001. She began her career as a Child Welfare Worker and spent the majority of her time at DCFS as a Dependency Investigator and as a supervisor at Emergency Response Command Post.  In 2016, she began working as a Children Services Administrator for the Bureau of Operational Supportive Services, QI Section, as a Certified State Reviewer conducting Child and Family Service Reviews. In 2019 she joined ICAN, where her current roles include coordinating the Multi Agency Child Death Review Team meetings and the review of all child deaths in the County, as well as, compiling child death reports. She is also the Administrator for the Safe Sleep Campaign.

Sabina Alvarez is the Senior Secretary IV for the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect (ICAN).  She is the primary contact for the ICAN Executive Director and point person for staff and information on ICAN projects and committees.  She also provides support to ICAN Associates, the non-profit organization which supports ICAN.  She is Co-Chair of the Annual ICAN/ICAN Associates Poster Art Contest for 4th through 6th grade students throughout Los Angeles County.

Jeremy Huang is a Senior Secretary III with ICAN.  He received a BA in Communications Entertainment from CSUF and has been working for LA County for the past 15 years.  He has worked at DHS, Public Health and now DCFS. He serves as the back up to Sabina, the main secretary. He also attends and take minutes for Operations and Safe Sleep meetings. He also assists in administrative functions for ICAN and for ICAN Associates.

Karla Latin,  Administrative Assistant III, has worked for Los Angeles County for 24 years, 4 of those years at ICAN.  She is responsible for the hiring process of personnel to ICAN and ICAN Associates.  She also tracks and monitors budget spending for annual training conferences and make recommendations for the solution of budgetary issues.  She is also responsible for all Procurement submissions, tracking status, receiving, and approval for all ICAN events.  She is also responsible for implementing and maintaining ICAN’s Internal Control Certification Program (ICCP).

Dr. Durfee, a child psychiatrist, began multi-agency child fatality review in 1975 and initiated the first team in Los Angeles County in 1978. He has published in the medical literature on child death, child sexual 36 Wednesday, November 20, 2019 abuse, and grief and mourning in child in survivors of fatal/severe family violence. In 1978, he convened a group of professionals to analyze suspicious and preventable child deaths. His pioneering work soon became a central part of ICAN. This association has resulted in much greater public awareness of child abuse and neglect-related severe injuries and fatalities in Los Angeles County, as well as in national and international communities.

Sandra is the President of the Los Angeles County-Family, Children, and Community Advisory Council (LAC-FCCAC). She has been President of this Council since 1983. LAC-FCCAC is one of 12 Community Child Abuse Prevention Councils in Los Angeles County. All 12 of the Community Child Abuse Prevention Councils are independently operated and supported by volunteers. LAC-FCCAC represents the African American community in Los Angeles County.

Paul Click, ICAN Technology Manager, has been an employee of ICAN Associates for 21 years, and worked closely with ICAN for 10 years prior. Paul helps oversee day to day uses of technology, especially photography and video projects. He also helps edit the many reports and articles produced by ICAN. Before coming to ICAN, he was a supervisor with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, overseeing the work of child abuse detectives throughout the county.

John Solano, IT and graphic designer, has been with ICAN Associates for 5 years and has been involved with many projects co-sponsored with ICAN. He maintains the website, posting articles weekly and providing information about ICAN and ICAN Associates events and programs. He manages ICAN's E-Marketing, Executive Director Messages and maintaining ICAN's email distribution lists. He also is ICAN's graphic designer, designing and compiling reports that are released each year.