LaShawn A. v. Fenty Amended Implementation Plan
On February 27, 2007, US District Judge Thomas F. Hogan approved an Amended Implementation Plan (AIP) in the LaShawn A. v. Fenty lawsuit, which seeks to reform the District’s child welfare system. It spells out what the District must do to meet remaining terms and conditions of the lawsuit by December 31, 2008, providing an opportunity to end court oversight of child welfare in the District in early 2009.
The AIP replaces a Final Implementation Plan that the court approved on May 15, 2003, with a deadline of December 31, 2006. Despite enormous progress in improving performance and quality of local child welfare services, the District did not meet all court-ordered requirements by that deadline. The AIP presents a final opportunity to fulfill all court-mandated requirements without further litigation.
Major AIP themes include:
- Consistent high performance on basic child welfare functions, such as investigations and visits
- Quality performance and services
- Strong support within CFSA from administrative functions such as Contracting and Procurement and Information Systems
- Continued training and development of social workers, supervisors, and foster parents
- Robust self-monitoring of quality within CFSA
- Continued political will and support from District elected officials
- Resource development to fill service gaps, particularly in mental health services for children and the local array of placement options
- Accountability for meeting performance goals among private providers responsible for managing approximately 55 percent of the local child welfare caseload
The court-appointed monitor at the Center for the Study of Social Policy will use percentage goals in the original Implementation Plan to monitor progress every six months.
Below are three reports provided to the US District Court on February 12, 2004, by the Court Monitor in the LaShawn A.vs. Williams lawsuit. They include:
- “An Assessment of the Functioning of the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline of the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency*,” dated January 20, 2004.
- “Qualitative Review: Process, Results, and Recommendations*,” dated January 20, 2004.
- “Benchmark Report*,” dated February 9, 2004, which reports on CFSA progress toward LaShawn Implementation Plan outcomes and strategies with deadlines of July 31, 2003, and September 30, 2003.
All three reports show that CFSA has made significant, even outstanding, progress in several key areas while still needing to improve in others. The reports are particularly important because they represent the first assessment provided by the Court Monitor to Federal Judge Hogan on the District’s progress compared to the rigorous benchmarks required by the Final Implementation Plan, which was adopted by the Court in spring 2003.
