There Are Other Children to Save

At a marathon D.C. Council committee hearing on Tuesday, Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who chairs the committee that oversees city welfare agencies, led a thoughtful and sometimes painful inquiry into the deaths of the four young daughters of Banita Jacks, who is charged with killing them.

Wells and his council colleagues probed relentlessly, hoping to learn how so many public agencies in the District had failed an obviously struggling family. As the investigation continues under the authority of the city's inspector general, we will learn more.

In the meantime, it is time to shift attention away from this blame game and toward other children in the District -- those on whose behalf it is not too late to act. These are the 2,300 children now in the foster care system, the children whose families are under the watch of the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency, and the thousands more children in the city who -- at some point in their young lives -- may need to rely on our government and our community for protection. City agencies and the community as a whole must begin an urgent and sustained effort to enact long-overdue reforms. The blueprint for those reforms is already available.

Though Wells's hearing focused on what went wrong in the Jacks case, the hearing served two other purposes that are perhaps even more useful.

First, it reminded us that several city agencies interacted with the family and that any reforms must include all of these agencies.

Second, it served to highlight the many ideas for reform that have already been proposed yet sadly have never been enacted.

Witness after witness offered ideas to make the city's systems work better for vulnerable children. Some ideas were technical, such as creating a better database or a dedicated hotline for serious cases. Others were political, such as finding ways to ensure that recommendations of the city's Child Fatality Review Committee are treated seriously by other agencies. City officials must move quickly to implement these proposals.

But it's also important that these tragic deaths result in more than a quick flurry of firings and short-term legislative and regulatory reforms. The hearing served as a reminder that the city must focus on prevention.

From what we have learned so far, there were many opportunities -- over many years -- when proper support might have helped Banita Jacks and her family. Their problems did not begin with their first encounter with D.C. public agencies. The mayor has promised a comprehensive citywide child abuse and neglect prevention plan, and advocacy groups stand ready to work with the mayor and city agencies to design and implement one.

The District must not squander this opportunity. The Child and Family Services Agency -- despite the heartbreaking failings in the Jacks case -- has already rebuilt many broken systems and is poised to adopt practices and policies that will result in better -- and measurable -- outcomes for children. Its new director, Sharlynn E. Bobo, has pledged to carry out these reforms. Other city agencies, from the schools to the mental health system, are paying attention. Advocacy groups are paying attention. The mayor is paying attention. And the D.C. Council is paying attention.

If we fail to act now, it will only be a matter of time before another tragic death of a child occurs in the District. And the next time, we will all share the blame.

-- Kathleen Sylvester

Washington

The writer is executive director of DC Action for Children.