Tariq Nelson

On the third floor at Johnson Middle School in Southeast Washington, behind a wood door, sits an unlikely tool in the District’s effort to uncover neglect and abuse.

It’s called the LifeSTARTS Basement, a play off the national discount retailer.

Pink shelves are filled with sweaters, pants and blouses for girls. Jeans and T-shirts for boys are stacked on the blue shelves. An ironing board sits in the corner so the mostly secondhand items can be pressed and neatly folded before being distributed.

“Some of the kids need the closet because their parents use drugs or don’t care for them,” said Derrick Johnson, 13, a youth adviser at the school. “They wear the same clothes constantly. That closet shows them somebody cares.”

Following the deaths of the four young daughters of Banita Jacks, who has been charged with their murders, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) fired city workers who, he said, should have responded more promptly to warning signs. He then chided remaining social workers to be more vigilant in protecting the city’s most vulnerable. Since the girls’ decomposing bodies were discovered in January, reports of potential abuse and neglect quadrupled, placing additional stress on the city’s Child and Family Services Agency.

Teachers, principals and outreach and social workers said the key to preventing abuse is gaining students’ trust. At schools across the District, this process often starts with a bag of groceries, a ride home, help finding a place to sleep or hand-me-downs to replace tattered and filthy garments. In addition to staving off hunger pains and taunts from other students, the goal is to send the message that, in times of crisis, students have a place to turn to.

[...]Stretched Thin

School social workers, counselors and teachers are not authorized to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect, but as in the Jacks case, they often are the first to notice. A bruise. A scar. A normally active child who is silent. Everyone working at schools, from janitors up to principals, is required by law to report any suspicions of neglect and abuse.

In schools with a social worker on staff, that task typically falls to them.

At Hart Middle School, that is Ann Brogioli. If any of the 400 students who are not in special education at the school in Southeast Washington need help, they come to Brogioli. Teachers send her children she classifies as the “super angry” ones, who misbehave, curse at teachers and get labeled by staff as lazy and unruly. She keeps an eye out for runaways and regularly counsels children torn up over the violent deaths of one or both parents.

Even former students and their parents still show up asking her to listen to their family woes and advise them what to do. Sometimes, she finishes one appointment to find another student waiting to catch her ear. She also is expected to organize assemblies and field trips.

“You don’t have time to really dig deep,” she said. “You don’t get a chance to do the therapeutic work you thought you were signing up to do.”

D.C. public schools, with 50,000 children, have 117 social workers, 31 provided by the city’s Department of Mental Health. The agency also provides 11 social workers to charter schools; many of them also hire their own. Virtually all the social workers in the traditional public schools are assigned to students with learning disabilities and emotional problems.

[...]George Parker, president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, says more social workers are desperately needed. He believes every school deserves its own social worker.

[...]

Stacey King, the social worker responsible for the 150 3- and 4-year-olds, reported two cases of potential abuse this year. One involved a child who told King that he had been burned by his mother on a stove. The other came after a parent failed to pick up a 3-year-old at the end of the day. The District contracts with groups such as Positive Nature, a therapeutic program for after school, holiday breaks and summers.

Most referrals are abuse and neglect cases, said Jennifer Murphy, the group’s director and co-founder. Many of the children it has served come from foster homes, have been suspended several times from school or have been exposed to substance abuse. The problems start early.