UPDATE: Brianna's Foster Parents Rebuild Their World

Brianna Blackmond's death shocked the city.

On Jan. 6, 2000, Jose Lopez's world fell apart.

He and his wife were foster parents to a girl they had raised from a baby until she was almost 2. But as Christmas approached, a D.C. Superior Court judge, without a hearing, ordered that the child be returned to her neglectful mother. Two weeks later, the girl was dead, killed by severe blows.

The death of 23-month-old Brianna Blackmond sent shock waves through the city, where seven agencies had failed to take steps to ensure her safety. Eventually, the judge who presided over her case resigned, as did the chief of the Child and Family Services Agency. Congress created a new D.C. family court.

Lopez, who was devastated at the time, said he is comforted by the belief that the death of the little girl who called him "Poppy" led to improvements for other neglected children.

He and his wife, both from Puerto Rico, have adopted Brianna's older sister, 8-year-old Shadiamond. She has become bilingual, attends third grade at a school in Northeast Washington and is getting good grades, Lopez said. She loves to draw and dance.

Shadiamond was living with Brianna, her mother and her godmother and several other children when Brianna was killed. Her godmother was convicted of second-degree murder, cruelty and obstruction of justice. Shadiamond still remembers Brianna, but the nightmares have stopped.

"We don't talk about what happened anymore," Lopez said. "She knows that Brianna is with God."

Brianna's nine other siblings have been adopted by families in the Washington area. Sometimes the children talk on the phone or get together for birthdays.

Lopez and his wife have taken in three more D.C. foster children, who are brothers, and adopted a 5-year-old girl. Along with their natural son, now a teenager, the couple are caring for six children.

In his spare time, Lopez works as a mentor to five other disadvantaged children, taking them to church, movies and concerts and trying to be a parent to them. "We've come full cycle," Lopez said. "We're very happy."

-- Sari Horwitz