D.C. Child and Family Services Agency: Performance Has Improved, but Exploring Health Care Options and Providing Specialized Training May Further Enhance Performance

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The District of Columbia's Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) has a history of serious performance problems. A court case in 1989 set in motion sweeping efforts to improve the District's child welfare system. Since then, CFSA has worked to meet performance requirements ordered by the U.S. District Court. However, recent reports by the court monitor show that CFSA is not meeting performance requirements on many measures. To update Congress, we assessed (1) whether CFSA is likely to meet requirements by December 2006; (2) what factors, if any, hinder the agency from meeting requirements; (3) how CFSA is monitoring its progress; and (4) the extent to which CFSA has implemented initiatives to achieve unmet requirements. To conduct this work, we reviewed reports by CFSA and the court monitor and interviewed stakeholders, including the court monitor and CFSA managers, supervisors, and caseworkers.