December 08, 1999
Mayor Williams Launches Year-long 'Bring Our Children Home' Adoption Program
Cites Recent Improvements Made to Child Welfare System
(Washington, D.C.) - Mayor Anthony A. Williams today announced a new foster care and adoption initiative called 'Bring Our Children Home' during a press conference at One Judiciary Square. The initiative cited steps for improving services, promoting adoptions and strengthening families.
"We are making a significant commitment to our city's children," Mayor Williams said. "It is time to reintegrate the oversight of the child welfare system back into the District of Columbia government, and it is time to bring our children home."
Among the steps the District is taking to improve services include improving the turn around time for certifying foster and adoptive homes. The backlog of cases within the Department of Health has been eliminated. The Office of the Corporation Counsel is bringing on additional attorneys to help quickly process the legal work required for adoption. And in order to speed up the efforts to hire more social workers, the District will grant reciprocity to social workers that have passed the national requirements.
The Mayor also outlined how the District will promote adoptions and strengthen families by funding six Family Development Centers throughout the District to help parents learn better ways to care for their children, publishing regulations that govern group homes, and introducing legislation to make it easier for relatives and other caring adults to become legal guardians.
"Placing children in foster care should be done only when absolutely necessary," said Mayor Williams. "We must do everything we can to keep children within their loving, extended family homes. We will begin implementing these regulations aggressively to ensure that our children are safe and well cared for."
The initiative is a government-supported campaign to encourage the community to adopt more than 3,300 District children and reduce the amount of time children spend in foster care before being placed in permanent homes. It includes a public-private partnership with the philanthropic community to implement an extensive public awareness campaign.
There are more than 3,300 children in the D.C. Foster care system, and about one third of these children have case plans for adoption. A recently released report requested by Williams, highlighted some of the problems of the District's child welfare system and made specific recommendations for improvement.
The public education campaign that was unveiled will help raise the awareness of the need for adoption. One component of this effort included a poster that the Mayor presented during the press conference. These posters will be displayed throughout the District in Metro stations, government buildings, churches, mosques and synagogues.
Several judges from both the D.C. Superior Court, District Court and the Family Court along with foster and adoptive families joined the Mayor during the announcement.
