Fenty Welcomes Deal on Child Welfare Reforms

Peter Nickles, D.C. acting attorney general, shown with Mayor Adrien M. Fenty, wanted terms that would not set up the agency to fail. (By Haraz N. Ghanbari -- Associated Press)

The contempt filing came as the agency began drowning in neglect and abuse calls in January, after Banita Jacks was discovered living in Southeast Washington with the decaying corpses of her four daughters and after officials realized that no one had made contact with her despite calls to a child abuse and neglect hotline.

That surge in neglect and abuse reports led to a fourfold increase in calls. Meanwhile, morale was crumbling at the agency after Fenty fired the six social workers associated with Jacks's case, prompting an exodus of almost 25 percent of the agency's social workers.

Over the summer, two more children died while the agency was investigating reports about them, and the confidence Children's Rights had in the system plummeted.

For months, the agency was failing to meet benchmarks set by the court monitor appointed in the wake of the Lashawn v. Fenty case, filed on behalf of District children by Lowry's group.

At a court hearing last month, the city and Children's Rights agreed to draft a plan to help the agency recover from this year's surge in investigations. In the courthouse hallway after the hearing, Lowry and Nickles argued about specifics of the agreement. Lowry wanted to pressure the agency to knock the backlog down; Nickles didn't want unrealistic goals that would set the agency up for failure.

Two weeks later, they came up with the stipulated order signed yesterday.

The agreement was in the works before last week, when the bodies of the two girls were found in a freezer in Maryland. The discovery was made after a third child escaped from the home of Renee Bowman, who had adopted the girls from the District's foster care system.

The clock starts ticking now on the court agreement, and by next Wednesday, the city must have a contract signed with the consulting group headed by Kevin Ryan. Ryan has a reputation among child welfare workers because of the improvements in New Jersey. Ryan's group will report to Fenty and the city administrator, according to the court order.

The group will work with the court-appointed monitor and Children's Rights to find a permanent director for the agency, according to the court order.

The two sides agreed that the backlog of investigations open longer than 30 days will be reduced to 600 by Nov. 15 and to 100 by Dec. 31. As of Friday, CFSA had reduced the backlog of investigations to 980 -- down 44 percent from the peak of 1,759 in mid-June.

They also agreed that the 23 percent social worker vacancy rate will be slashed to 15 percent by Dec. 31 and that the Child Protective Services hotline staff will receive training on a new phone system, also by Dec. 31.

And officials are required to make big strides in the area of adoptions, finding homes for 25 children while making plans for permanent homes for 40 more. They are to focus particularly on the District's unique problem of older youth still in the system, who are traditionally more difficult to place in adoptive homes.