Children under the purview of the District’s foster care agency are where they should be, according to a new report from the D.C. Inspector General, a dash of good news for a long-troubled system.
“In our opinion, based on our visits to each child’s foster home, most of the children appeared to be satisfied with their foster care providers and living in safe and stable environments,” the Inspector General’s Office wrote in the audit, one in a series focusing on the performance of the Child and Family Services Agency. “Many of the foster parents interviewed appeared to be committed caregivers and supporters of the children.”
As of Oct. 6, 2005, 2,518 children were in out-of-home placement, including 2,309 in traditional foster care and 209 in residential treatment and other facilities. The goal of the audit was to account for a sampling of those children.
Of the statistical sample of 100 foster children, 99 were pinpointed immediately — the 100th had run away. In another sample, the inspector general accounted for all 60 children who were sent to out-of-state residential treatment facilities. The only negative was some inaccurate placement information entered by social workers.
“If they’re working successfully, it’s important for stakeholders to know that,” William DiVello, assistant inspector general for audits, said of CFSA.
In her agency’s written response, Uma Ahluwalia, interim CFSA director, said she was “especially pleased” with the “high degree of accuracy” and laid out a series of steps to fix the problems with inaccurate data entry. A similar audit released in August revealed an entirely different result. In that study, the IG was unable to determine the number of children under CFSA’s custody who were receiving special education services and was not effectively using its computer application to track children.
“The audit of that very narrow issue doesn’t tell you much of the overall child welfare system, and unfortunately I think there are still major problems with the child welfare system in D.C. that I hope will get the attention of the new mayor,” said Judith Sandalow, executive director of the D.C.-based Children’s Law Center.
