Patricia Moton, 56, listened to her daughter pose the same question over and over as months stretched into years and she was still living in her District home as a foster child.

"When am I going to get adopted?" Moton recalled her asking.

Moton said the worst part wasn't the repetition but that she simply didn't have an answer. There were papers to fill out, questions from social workers to answer, lawyers to meet with and court hearings followed by more court hearings. At one point, Markia's relatives stepped back into the picture and it was unclear whether the adoption would ever go through, Moton said.