Posts Tagged ‘Child and Family Services Agency’
Roque Gerald Loves His Staff
Roque Gerald has served as the acting director of the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) for less than a year. In that short time, however, he has learned an important lesson about management. Say nice things about your underlings, that is.
In a youth conference today at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Gerald said that his staff was "the wind beneath my wings."
That wind, indeed, has generated some altitude for Gerald. Via the hard work of CFSA employees, Gerald cut the backlog of CFSA cases from 1,800 ten months ago to zero by December 2008. His agency also had a 25 percent staff vacancy rate, which he has slashed to four percent---more wind beneath his wings!
Gerald made clear that his agency still has some tough numbers to fight. Sixty percent of the kids in CFSA's care are 13 and up. Though clients have complex problems, Gerald insists they "have a right to a future." One of his primary objectives is to reduce the amount of home-hopping that the kids do. "Too many children are shuffled around in too many placements," he said. "Every time they move, we injure their future."
Reporting by Jason Cherkis
CFSA Can’t Speak For Itself
This afternoon I called Mindy Good. She is the Child and Family Services Agency's press person. I had put in a request to interview the director of the troubled agency. When I hadn't heard back, I thought this merited a phone call to Good's cellphone.
I asked her about my request.
Good replied that all calls must go through the mayor's press office. I asked why.
Good replied: "Mafara Hobson." Like a robot, she repeated the words "Mafara Hobson" a few more times.
"They do the speaking for this agency," she said of the mayor's office.
I replied: But aren't you the agency's press person. Good is listed as the agency's Public Information Officer. Then again the agency doesn't have much in the way of press releases.
"I am the director of communications," Good said.
"Why don't you get to do that?" I asked. You know communicate for the agency.
Good then hung up. Great press strategy CFSA!
‘The Family Was Stable’
Last night, City Desk got a bit of news on the triple homicide case---that the family did have contact with social services in 2006. Today, the Washington Post has an in-depth look at the problems between Erika Peters, her children and her live-in boyfriend.
The live-in boyfriend, Joseph Randolph Mays, was charged in the murders Saturday night.
The Post reports that Kimberly Trimble, Peters' sister, notified authorities about Joseph Mays' alleged abuse of one of the children: "Trimble said that about two years ago, she contacted the District's Child and Family Services Agency to report that Mays had shaken his daughter. A year after that, she said, she warned the principal at Holy Redeemer Catholic School to look out for marks on her sister's children. She said she did not remember what became of either warning."
This brings us back to CFSA and its involvement. Today we reached Attorney General Peter Nickles for a little more clarification.
Former CFSA Director Dies at 61
Sharlynn Bobo, the former head of D.C.'s Child and Family Services Agency, died Saturday after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 61.
Bobo was named CFSA director by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in February 2007 after holding two deputy director jobs at the agency. She earned advanced degrees in social work from Howard University and had spent more than 30 years working in the field.
Bobo's tenure came to a sudden end last July, when she was unceremoniously replaced by Fenty, seven months after the Banita Jacks tragedy raised serious questions about the extreme casework backlog at CFSA.
According to family Web site postings, Bobo was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in early November.
In an e-mail sent to CFSA employees Monday morning (printed in full after the jump), interim director Roque Gerald praised Bobo as a "intelligent, thoughtful, capable, and courageous lady who devoted her life to the service of others."
"Sharlynn left deep impressions on all of us who knew her," he wrote. "Among many achievements, her contributions to CFSA over more than six years made a tangible positive difference to children and families."
A memorial service is scheduled for Thursday at Metropolitan Baptist Church, 1225 R St. NW; visitation will be at 11 a.m., the service at noon. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
