Hello Ward 6 residents! I want to share with you the touching story of a young woman (We will call her Ms. H) who expressed interest in adopting one of the many children in the District of Columbia’s foster care system. Ms. H stated that she had seen the little girl on Wednesday’s Child about 3 years ago. What is Wednesday’s Child?  Well, Wednesday’s Child is a weekly television feature that seeks to assist children who are in foster care and eligible for adoption in finding permanent adoptive families.

Not being a resident of the District but Virginia, Ms. H expressed her frustration in trying to understand and navigate the system in an effort to make her hopes of becoming a parent to the little girl who touched her heart a reality. Almost 3 years later, Ms. H is still working with the Child and Family Service Agency trying to make this hope a reality. Not only for herself but also for the young girl who needs a loving, safe and permanent home.

Ms. H admitted that it would be easier to become an adoptive parent in Virginia and she has been encouraged by family and friends to do so. However, she shared with me, “I’m emotionally attached at this point even though she has no idea that I have been trying for some time to adopt her.” She continued, “I know it might sound strange, but I know in my heart that this child that is suppose to be my daughter.”

A recent Washington Post editorial highlighted that this frustration is not about just a single case but is a systemic issue.  Where does all this frustration come from? It is all about ICPC – the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children – but no matter what you may think, ICPC was, and still is, a sensible approach to an important problem. In some cases, and particularly in DC, it just doesn’t work well.

Let’s step back a minute. Why do we have ICPC? Sometimes it is not possible to find a suitable foster or adoptive home for a child within the State where the child lives. But that State (let’s call it State A) has no authority to investigate whether a home in another State (let’s call it State B) is suitable; so the Interstate Compact provides that the sending State (State A) shall request the receiving State (State B) to determine whether the proposed placement is suitable and for the receiving State to supply that information. A perfectly sensible arrangement – particularly when you consider earlier practice under which one State would put its orphan children on a train and ship them out without any concern as to the kind of homes they would wind up in and with no provision for the receiving State’s approval.

But good intentions sometimes go awry and the ICPC process has become entangled in paperwork and bureaucratic obfuscation so that it now sometimes works against, rather than in favor of, the children for whom it was designed.  For a variety of reasons, this is particularly true in the case of DC children being placed in Maryland or Virgina.

Many efforts have been made to overcome these problems; there have been extensive negotiations between Maryland and DC; there have been proposed revisions of the Compact and the Congress has enacted legislation dealing with the issue. These efforts have been going on for a very long time and Councilmember Wells has decided to use his position as Chairman of the Human Services Committee to take a look at the issue to see if there is something that he can do to resolve this long-standing problem which has been a major impediment to the expeditious placement of a significant number of the District’s abused and neglected children.

We’ll keep you posted about progress, but if you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to let us know.