LOS ANGELES — A state licensing board has imposed a four-year probation on a contracted L.A. County counselor for failing to report the suspected abuse of Gabriel Fernandez and Anthony Avalos, two young boys whose deaths spotlighted egregious lapses in the region's child welfare system.
In a decision that took effect March 31, the state Board of Behavioral Sciences placed Barbara Dixon, a licensed marriage and family therapist, on probation and required her to participate in psychotherapy, law and ethics training, and coursework in child abuse assessment.
The state board had formally accused Dixon last year of failing to report allegations of abuse of Gabriel in 2013 and Anthony in 2015. Dixon also faced charges by the licensing board of gross negligence and unprofessional conduct, according to records.
