Testimony: Special Roundtable, The State of Human Services in the District of Columbia 2011

On February 3, 2011, Councilmember Graham, the Chair of the DC Council’s Committee on Human Services, held a Special Roundtable, The State of Human Services in the District of Columbia. Children’s Law Center was invited to provide testimony about the performance of the Child and Family Services Agency.

We noted that the District’s child abuse and neglect system requires dramatic reform at all stages. The government does not adequately prevent abuse and neglect, nor does it do a good job keeping children safely with their birth families. Once the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) removes children, it does not serve them well in foster care. 

Our testimony focused on four high priorities for reforming CFSA:

• reducing unnecessary removals of children from their parents;
• increasing the proportion of foster children who CFSA places with kin;
• maximizing federal revenue to support essential programs; and
• increasing transparency in the agency’s operations. 

Read the full testimony here.