D.C. Child & Family Services Agency: Performance Has Improved, but Exploring Health Care Options & Providing Specialized Training May Further Enhance Performance

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) sought to assess the likelihood that the District of Columbia's Children and Family Services Agency (CFSA) will meet performance improvement deadlines by December 2006. The GAO also sought to identify factors that may reduce the likelihood of compliance by the deadline. The GAO conducted stakeholder and CFSA staff interviews and reviewed CFSA court monitor reports.

The GAO concluded that the CFSA is unlikely to meet the deadline, although it has made significant performance improvements. A need to increase the number of health care providers was determined to be a key obstacle to meeting the deadline. The GAO also determined that the need for more health providers also impacted case management improvements because children with complex physical or behavioral health problems were not able to be seen by practitioners in a timely fashion. Other factors included a shortage of qualified foster and adoptive homes.