Reading the story about a Georgetown family's fight with the District over accusations of child abuse, Ron Drake remembered his battle 14 years ago to satisfy the “last dying wish” of a mother that he and his wife adopt the mother's young daughter.

It was 1994. Drake, a lawyer and former Indiana state representative, had sought to fulfill that mother's wish. I was a reporter when I met him during the heat of his fight. The District seemed to care nothing about the child's welfare. Not unlike the case involving Gregg and Julianna Caplan, the government fixated on the Drakes’ economic status and race. They are white and upper-income; the child is black and was from a poor family.

The Drakes eventually lost their battle. The child was sent to live in a deplorable environment that included relatives who used drugs in her presence.

The Caplans’ saga through the District bureaucracy is by now well known. It began when one of their twin daughters took a fall, prompting a visit to a hospital emergency room where officials filed required reports. Soon after, the District's Child and Family Services Agency snatched both children from the Caplans. The couple hired lawyers and ultimately the children were returned. But the husband and wife remain on a child abuse register.

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Sharlynn Bobo, CFSA's director, reportedly noted the family's “privileged” economic status as reason to assert her workers had done the right thing.

“I was so outraged by the absolute arrogance and inhumanity of bureaucrats,” Drake said. “The overarching concern, far above protecting children, is the bureaucrats protecting themselves and their jobs.”

The Caplans’ ordeal came on the heels of the revelation that four young girls died after CFSA ignored repeated warnings of a social worker and a hospital nurse that the children were in possible danger. Their mother, Banita Jacks, has been charged with their murders. No doubt, the children's economic status and race played some role in the agency's failure to fully investigate the reports of child abuse.

While the three stories are different, they are emblematic of a bureaucracy not yet reformed after decades of promises, some as recent as this year. CFSA workers still can't discern whether abuse has occurred. It either overreacts or fails to react to calls for help.

It can't remove its own race and class biases to effectively evaluate what's in the best interest of children it's charged with protecting. What's worse, the agency's director is as flawed as her subordinates.

Mayor Adrian A. Fenty fired eight workers after the death of the Jacks children. Last week, an appeals board ruled workers’ rights were violated. He has vowed to fight that ruling. He should. He might also seriously consider removing Bobo. A bureaucracy reflects its leadership.