GAO Testimony

Foster Care
Status of the District of Columbia's Child Welfare System Reform Efforts

Statement of Cynthia M. Fagnoni, Director
Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues
Health, Education, and Human Services Division

I am pleased to be here today to discuss the status of the court-appointed receivership for the District of Columbia's child welfare system. Numerous problems in serving the children at risk of placement and those already in foster care in the District led the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 1994 to develop a modified final order (MFO) requiring over 100 corrective actions. In 1995, the Court removed the child welfare agency from the auspices of the Districts Department of Human Services and from local government control, putting a child welfare receivership in place to implement the MFO requirements. Recently, your Subcommittee has raised concerns about the proper operation of the receivership following the death of a child who had been returned to her mother, and whether significant risk to the safety and well-being of children exists.

Today, I would like to focus my remarks on our preliminary observations of (1) the progress the receivership has made to comply with the requirements of the MFO and (2) key elements that are essential for additional reforms to occur. My testimony is based on our ongoing work for the Subcommittee, including a review of progress reports prepared by the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP)the court-appointed monitor and documentation provided by the receiver and other organizations, as well as our past work on organizational reform in general and child welfare system reforms in particular. (See related GAO products listed at the end of this testimony.)

In summary, our work has shown that resolving the long-standing systemic problems plaguing the District's child welfare system will take a concerted effort that goes beyond addressing the specific requirements of the MFO. While the receiver has made progress in correcting important child welfare agency deficiencies, our previous work shows that the responsibility for the safety and well-being of children cannot rest solely on an overwhelmed child welfare agency. The receiver has begun to fulfill her role in addressing the specific MFO requirements, such as developing and implementing a new child welfare information system that began operating in October 1999 and establishing a training project in January 1999 to enhance caseworker skills. The receiver acknowledges that changes to date address approximately 50 percent of the requirements in the MFO. However, implementing changes to address the MFO requirements alone cannot resolve the many systemic challenges that permeate the child welfare system. Many of the problems facing the Districts system are similar to those faced by other jurisdictions around the country, and long-standing systemic weaknesses, such as poor working relationships between the agencies and the courts, hamper child welfare agencies capacity to protect children. Our previous work found that in order to achieve tangible progress in eliminating these barriers, effective working relationships must exist among all stakeholders such as private foster care providers, the court system, and other local government agencies that have a role in keeping children safe. Some jurisdictions have fostered this collaboration by creating multidisciplinary advisory groups that work to resolve turf battles and dispel mistrust, or by pooling or blending funds from various state and federal sources to gain leverage in obtaining needed resources. District of Columbia officials and child welfare experts familiar with the District agree that this collaboration, while key to protecting children, is not fully developed in the District.

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