In late December 1999, a District of Columbia Superior Court judge returned 23-month-old Brianna Blackmond from foster care to her mother. Two weeks later, Brianna died of multiple blows to the head inflicted by her godmother.
The case shocked Washington and sparked investigations into every facet of the city’s child welfare system. Concerned that Brianna had fallen through the judicial cracks — the judge returned her to her mother without holding a hearing — lawmakers in Congress declared that the court’s Family Division needed fixing. Legislation overhauling the division and renaming it as the Family Court went into effect in early 2002.
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