Bill Myers, The Examiner
2008-06-03 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

Stung by revelations that they may have abandoned four girls to the mercy of a deranged mother, D.C. child welfare bureaucrats have flooded the city courts with abuse and neglect cases, an Examiner analysis found.

In the first quarter of the year, the Child and Family Services Agency brought 257 abuse or neglect complaints to D.C. family court, records show. That’s nearly a 60 percent increase from the same time last year.

In nearly nine out of 10 of those cases, officials have taken children out of their homes while the complaints are litigated, the court records show.

The spike has occurred since the discovery of the decomposed bodies of Banita Jacks’ daughters on the floor of their home in Southeast. Calls to the city’s abuse hot line have shot up by at least 400 percent since then and CFSA — already short-staffed — has been swamped, officials say.

For some longtime observers of D.C.’s child welfare crisis, the increase in court filings isn’t proof that children are finally being protected by the city.

“The agency is rending families asunder. It needs political support to provide services to children in their homes,” said Matt Fraidin, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia. “That’s the best and cheapest way to keep children safe and to strengthen the community.”

Fraidin points to the case of Greg and Juliana Caplan, a Northwest couple whose infant daughters were taken from them after bureaucrats falsely accused the Caplans of abusing the girls. He says the Caplans’ nightmare shows that the agency is reacting to events, not trying to shape them.

 Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said Mayor Adrian Fenty has done “damage” to the bureaucracy by creating a climate where social workers are so afraid for their careers that they act precipitously.

“When you overload your system with phony cases, you don’t have time to reach the kids who are in critical condition,” Wexler said.

“It’s Queen of Hearts style of management,” Wexler added. “Every time something goes wrong, he screams, ‘Off with their heads.’ ”

Sharlynn Bobo, Fenty’s top child welfare agent, has defended CFSA’s response by saying that the post-Jacks caseload is “without precedence.”

Got a tip on child welfare? Call Bill Myers at 202-459-4956 or e-mail bmyers@dcexaminer.com.