Harry Jaffe, The Examiner
2007-03-23 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

Mayor Adrian Fenty patted himself on the back for many accomplishments in his first State of the District address this week. He said he had appointed police and fire chiefs; he had proposed taking over the schools; he called for full D.C. voting rights. Any new mayor might have done that. Here’s what Fenty didn't mention: his administration’s failure to help the city’s most desperate children. According to the people at CASA, a nonprofit group that acts as an advocate for children in foster care, Fenty promised to provide CASA with emergency funding but has not followed through.

This week, as Fenty congratulated himself, CASA financed its last payroll from operating funds.

“We have to start turning cases back to the courts,” CASA Chief Executive Officer Shane Salter told me.

Foster children have always gotten shoddy treatment from this city, even under the administration of Anthony Williams, who himself was a foster child. These are our children who are abused, neglected and abandoned. They become wards of the city and the courts. In too many cases, the District fails to monitor them, and they often become subjected to more abuse.

CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates for children. Many states have similar nonprofit groups. They train volunteers to become advocates for foster children. One volunteer, one child.

D.C.’s social workers have huge caseloads and cannot keep track of foster children. CASA's volunteers visit the kids, make sure they are getting to the doctor, doing their homework, getting their teeth checked.

Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu is a champion of abused kids and a supporter of CASA. She earmarked funds to get it started in D.C. five years ago. Her funds dried up, and she asked the city to pick up the $400,000 needed annually. Williams funded CASA in his 2006 budget, but dropped it in 2007.

Now CASA and kids are in limbo.

As CASA’s Shane Salter tells it, he and Landrieu and Fenty were at a ribbon cutting for a drop-in center for at-risk children in Southeast earlier this year. Landrieu explained why the feds could no longer finance CASA.

“I'll fix it,” Fenty promised, said to Salter.

Salter got a call from Fenty budget chief William Singer. He pleaded his case. Then, Salter says, the communication stopped. He says: “We have no indication as to where they are.”

Shane Salter was a foster child and is raising foster kids in his home right now. He knows what they need and how his volunteers can help make shattered children whole. Last year his group trained 144 volunteers to work with 160 children. Two weeks ago, courts referred another 60 to CASA.

Fenty's office referred me to a city budget official who said CASA might be in Fenty's next budget. Speaking on background because the numbers were not yet firm, the official also said Fenty might try to get the group some funds through an emergency supplemental bill.

Shane Salter sees his staff slipping away and the city's foster children starting to suffer — even more.

Harry Jaffe has been covering the Washington area since 1985. E-mail him at hjaffe@washingtonian.com.