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The D.C. agency responsible for the welfare of the city’s children is still not meeting certain court-mandated standards, according to a new report.
A progress report from the Center for the Study of Social Policy found that D.C.’s Children and Family Services Agency did not meet the 80 percent benchmark for acceptable abuse and neglect investigations during the last six months of 2012, with only 62 percent up to snuff as of October 2012. A checklist of over 80 questions, including ones about timeliness, is used to determine if investigations are acceptable.
A press release from Children’s Rights, the group that brought a class action lawsuit against the agency in 1989 and has since sued it for contempt, also noted that only 75 percent of investigations were launched quickly enough. The benchmark for the mandate, which requires a social worker to meet with allegedly victimized children away from their caretaker within 48 hours, is 95 percent.
“Quick, thorough and effective investigations into alleged maltreatment are one of the most recognizable hallmarks of a well functioning child welfare system,” Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of Children’s Rights, said in the release. “Improving these investigations should be a top priority for CFSA leaders, who have expressed a desire to get the District’s reform effort back on track.”
The report also found that the Children and Family Services Agency violated the mandate that requires 90 percent of social workers to be handling no more than 12 investigations each. Compliance in July was only 56 percent.
It’s not all bad news. Four exit standards were achieved for the first time, including a mandate that siblings separated in different foster homes get to see one another at least twice a month.
Request for comment from the agency has not been returned.