Councilmember Brooke Pinto, Chairwoman of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, and Councilmember Zachary Parker, Chair of the Committee on Youth Affairs, will hold a joint public hearing on Thursday, November 13 to discuss the following proposals to enhance youth safety:
- B26-0399 - Support, Opportunity, Unity, Legal Relationships (SOUL) Amendment Act of 2025
- B26-0400 - Statutory Neglect Amendment Act of 2025
- B26-0401 - Youth Records Transparency and Oversight Amendment Act of 2025
- B26-0404 - Safe Pregnancy, Delivery, and Postpartum Care for Youth at DYRS Amendment Act of 2025
- B26-0407 - Strengthening Capacity and Transparency at DYRS Amendment Act of 2025
- B26-0408 - Promoting Parental Engagement at DYRS Amendment Act of 2025
The stated purpose of B26-399 is to create a new legal permanency option for children involved with Child and Family Services (CFSA), known as a SOUL family. This new permanency option enables youth to acquire a stable network of supportive adults able to provide housing, care, and mentorship without requiring the termination of existing legal relationships.Emblematic of a national movement to bridge the gap for foster children between childhood and adulthood, this bill recognizes that it takes a village to raise children and creates a legal pathway to do so.
The stated purpose of B26-400 is to clarify, consolidate and streamline the current neglect code in the District of Columbia to better reflect current standards and practices in the child welfare space. The bill will address critical concerns that the current neglect code is fragmentary and difficult to interpret by creating a strong and uniform standard for the determination of neglect.
The stated purpose of B26-401 is to make small changes to juvenile confidentiality laws to enable the Council Committee with oversight over the Department of Youth RehabilitationServices (DYRS) to access records in cases concerning delinquency or need of supervision cases.These changes will enable the Committee to fulfill its oversight responsibilities.
The stated purpose of B26-404 will ensure that all juveniles at DYRS receive appropriate, confidential, and culturally responsive pregnancy care. The bill requires all female juveniles to receive a pregnancy test upon admission to a facility and before medication is prescribed. It also calls on DYRS to deliver to Council a formal policy for pregnant youth and to provide this policy to pregnant youth at DYRS facilities.
The stated purpose of B26-407 will promote transparency by mandating that DYRS report juvenile population data, including incident reports and room confinement information. The bill also establishes a metric for measuring juvenile recidivism and calls on the Executive to submit a one-year action plan to address overcrowding at the Youth Services Center (YSC).
The stated purpose of B26-408 is to require DYRS to maintain an electronic record of its attempts to contact the appropriate parties, including parents and guardians, prior to a predisposition meeting and to make this log available to the Chair of the Council Committee with oversight of DYRS.
Witnesses may appear either in-person or virtually using the Zoom platform. Unless otherwise stated in pre-hearing instructions, witnesses will have 5 minutes to speak if they are representing an organization, and 3 minutes if they are speaking for themselves.
Residents interested in testifying or submitting testimony can sign up by clicking here by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 11, 2025. Witnesses who anticipate needing spoken language interpretation, or require sign language interpretation, are requested to inform the Committee office of the need as soon as possible but no later than five business days before the proceeding. We will make every effort to fulfill timely requests, although alternatives may be offered. Requests received in less than five business days may not be fulfilled.