In 43 Days, a Future Shattered

On Oct. 25, Rafael, then six weeks old, was rushed to a hospital -- the victim, prosecutors said, of repeated beatings.

During the trial, the defense argued that no one saw Jenkins abuse Rafael, that she called 911 and that her boyfriend tried to resuscitate him.

But in court papers, prosecutors said Jenkins told police that she shook Rafael and struck him in the face on six different days and that she dropped him on his head more than once, albeit, she said, by accident.

Little Progress Since Suit

It was the sort of failure that was supposed to have been fixed by years of litigation.

The social worker "should have made weekly visits and did not," Good said. "Tragedies like this, no matter how rare, cause us to search our policies, procedures, practices, actions and souls," Good said.

Advocates had sued the District in 1989, saying the city's child welfare system was a wreck. The Washington Post later reviewed cases from 1993 through 2000 and documented the D.C. government's role in the neglect and deaths of 229 children placed in protective care.

In 1995, the child welfare system was placed in court receivership. It stayed there until 2001. But its efforts, catalogued in voluminous reports by a federal court monitor, have been slow in many areas.

"They haven't even met the goals they've set for themselves," said Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of Children's Rights, who pressed the suit.

Sylvia Pearson would learn how far the system still has to go.

After Rafael was taken from his mother, his grandmother told social workers that she was going to be involved and asked when the case would be in court. She was never told, she said, and that first hearing was held without her. Weeks passed without any movement or any opportunity to see the infant.

The baby's social worker reassured her, Pearson said, telling her that Rafael was fine and living with a good family that liked him so much there was talk of adoption. "I was thinking he's in a loving environment and he's safe," she said.

Then she got a call from another social worker.