Mayor Fenty Introduces Legislation to Improve Information Sharing  Among Health and Human Services Agencies

Reforms aimed at implementing more impactful service delivery for vulnerable residents of the District

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Fenty administration announced the introduction of the Jacks-Fogle Family Preservation Case Coordination Authorization Act of 2009, aimed at enhancing inter-agency information sharing in an effort to prevent tragedies, like the Banita Jacks case.

This legislation will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the District’s service delivery system by permitting the exchange of information between and facilitating more effective coordination among human services agencies.

“We are making bold improvements to District law in response to this tragedy, which made a lasting impact on our community,” said Mayor Fenty.  “The Jacks-Fogle tragedy is one we never want to repeat, and this legislation is an important step in reforming our system.”

Current local health and human services agency laws are far more restrictive and cumbersome than what is allowed under federal law. Specifically, the District's local confidentiality statutes are far more conservative than federal law in terms of what type of information sharing is allowed between local agencies for the purposes of coordinated client services. This legislation revises the local statutes to align with the federal privacy laws (HIPPA and FERPA) for those specific agencies involved with the Jacks-Fogle tragedy.

“The Jacks/Fogle legislation represents the cornerstone of the future of the District’s human services system,” said Clarence Carter, director of the Department of Human Services.  “Information sharing, case coordination and functioning as part of a multi-disciplinary team for the well-being of District residents will allow the District government to more effectively and efficiently meet the individual needs of residents.”

The legislation will fully comply with federal HIPPA regulations and allow relevant information to be shared between the health and human services agencies’ programs. This sharing of information will improve the coordination of services, leading to more impactful service delivery. The Jacks-Fogle legislation will be phased in beginning during the next fiscal year with a focus on the most at-risk youth and families.

"Protecting the District's most vulnerable children, youth, and families demands a community-wide response,” said Roque Gerald, director of Child and Family Services Agency.  “This legislation provides greater insight into multiple public agencies serving the same families, and is a large step forward in improving coordination."

In February, the District implemented new policies and systematic reform initiatives that not only improve youth and family services, but also enable effective communication among government agencies. This legislation will improve on the following reform initiatives:

•    State Longitudinal Education Data System (SLED) - Created the SLED system to track attendance records for all public and public charter students, as well as all students placed in non-public programs. The program will reconcile the students that leave school to be homeschooled, and will identify why a student has left a particular school.

•    Truancy Reduction – Designated two staff persons in each school to receive truant students brought in by MPD. Under this model, students are returned to the classroom sooner and are engaged in attendance-related intervention at the local school level, facilitating a partnership between, schools, students and families.

•    DC START – Created DC START, a school-based early intervention pilot program that includes services designed to address many issues that a young student might face including anger, depression, anxiety and alcohol and other drug issues.  

•    Gateway to Services Family Self-Assessment – Implemented a new assessment tool for homeless families.  When a homeless family presents at Intake, case managers will work with each member of that family to identify all of their needs and link them to the benefits, goods, and services that can enable them to move beyond homelessness.    

•    Children at Risk - The CHARI (Children At Risk) application functions as a single point of accountability assisting clinicians in ensuring that programmatic milestones are met, monitoring assessment and data collection, and supervising the formulation and implementation of treatment plans.  

The Jacks-Fogle Family Preservation Case Coordination Authorization Act of 2009 was introduced during the D.C. Council’s June 30th legislative session.

“This legislation reflects the hard work and constructive effort by the District to strengthen the safety net for our most vulnerable children and families in the city,” said Attorney General Peter Nickles. “This is an outstanding accomplishment, reflecting the District’s long-standing commitment to providing more efficient human service delivery for residents.  I commend all of the relevant agencies for stepping up to the plate and building on the reforms we have implemented, including those recommended to us in the OIG report.”