These requirements include steps for improving protective services; services to children and families; and the placement, supervision, and review of children in foster care (app. However, these changes have generally fallen short of expected results. High turnover adversely affects CFSA’s capacity to effectively manage the provision of services to children and families. Critical initiatives include collaborative operations among the agencies that provide child welfare and other support services, as well as case-specific initiatives aimed at bringing together children, family members, social workers, attorneys, and others to help address the needs of children and their families.Some participants in the District’s child welfare system have recently taken initial steps to improve operations. For example, District agencies have initiated recent efforts to integrate child welfare services with other family services. The Structural Issues Are Important in Transferring CFSA Back to the District

Long-standing challenges such as a lack of effective working relationships in the child welfare system impede the District’s ability to fully apply best practices to protect children. As it prepares for the transfer of CFSA to local governance, the District faces many organizational and operational challenges. Prepared with input from key participants in the District’s child welfare system and presented to the subcommittee by the Mayor in October 2000, this plan addresses the roles of OCC, MPD, the D.C. Superior Court, and others in the District’s child welfare system.In October 2000, the U.S. District Court issued a consent order terminating the receivership upon the satisfaction of several major conditions, such as the enactment of legislation ending bifurcated investigations of child abuse and neglect allegations, the appointment of a child welfare agency administrator by the District’s mayor, and the development of licensing standards for foster homes and group homes. An assessment of staff training needs.
Why GAO Did This Study

Many children have languished in the care of the District of Columbia's child welfare system for extended periods of time. Years of indifference, managerial shortcomings, and long-standing organizational divisiveness have undermined the system's ability to safeguard these children. As a result of these prolonged deficiencies, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a remedial order in 1991 to improve the performance of the child welfare agency. GAO assessed the agency's progress in complying with the court's requirements, specifically examining how financial and operational changes made by the Children and Family Services Agency (CFSA) have affected the protection of children and the provision of services to children and families, the extent to which critical elements of an effective child welfare system have been applied in the District, and issues that need to be addressed in planning for the transfer of CFSA back to local governance.

What GAO Found

GAO found that the financial and operational changes have not significantly improved the protection of children or the delivery of other child welfare services. Although the District has started to integrate child welfare services with other support services, it still lacks a fully developed collaborative structure to help foster more efficient day-to-day operations and improve program accountability. Furthermore, multiple issues must be resolved before CFSA can be transferred back to local governance.