A D.C. bill that would give sweeping power to child welfare bureaucrats to view private records of children and families is encountering fierce resistance from privacy and juvenile-rights advocates.

The legislation, pending before the D.C. Council, would allow agents from the Child and Family Services Agency to demand access to medical, school and other records if they suspected a child was being abused or neglected. Advocates of the measure say the bureaucracy is stymied by privacy laws and needs broader access to personal information to move quickly on allegations of mistreatment.

The bill, dubbed the Child Abuse and Neglect Investigation Records Access Amendment Act, was formally introduced earlier this month. Provisions similar to the act were on the books more than a year ago, but were put there as emergency measures and have since expired. If the bill passes, it would make the changes permanent.

Opponents, who range from privacy lawyers to social workers, say the measure gives too much authority to an agency that hasn't proven it can handle the powers it already claims.

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“It's a blunt instrument,” said Eric Angel, legal director of the Legal Aid Society. “It doesn't address the real problems.”

D.C. already defines doctors, teachers, nurses, social workers and others as “mandatory reportser,” which means they must call the city in if they suspect a child is being mistreated. If city officials suspect mandatory reporters are withholding vital information, they can petition a court for access.

The Records Act will have a chilling effect on relationships among children and their caretakers, Angel said. “I don't think the council fully appreciates the breadth of this proposal,” he told The Examiner.

Angel is one of several activists who signed a recent letter opposing the bill sent to D.C. Council member Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6. Wells is shepherding the bill through the council. The measure has the support of Mayor Adrian Fenty, his spokeswoman told The Examiner.

Fenty, who had legislative authority over D.C.'s child welfare agencies when he was a council member, was stung by revelations that city officials ignored desperate calls for help on behalf of Banita Jacks and her family. Jacks is now charged with murdering her four daughters, whose badly decomposed bodies were found on the floor of a squatter’s house in Southeast.

Child-welfare director Sharlynn Bobo told The Examiner that her agency needs more flexibility in attacking cases so that no child has to suffer the fate of Jacks’ daughters.

“We asked for it out of our experience,” Bobo said. “We're having a difficult time getting information.”

bmyers@dcexaminer.com