District officials are removing the head of the city agency that oversees group homes for the mentally retarded, where neglect and life-threatening conditions were largely ignored for years.

Department of Human Services Director Jearline F. Williams has ordered the removal of Frances Bowie, a 29-year city employee, as administrator of the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration, a spokesman for Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) said yesterday.

The action, effective April 24, comes after a Washington Post investigation found 350 documented cases of abuse and neglect in the city's group home system this decade, as well as financial mismanagement by group home owners who were poorly monitored by several D.C. agencies. Since 1990, the city has not issued a single fine against any company that owned a home where a retarded resident was found to have been mistreated.

"The change in leadership is reflective of my overall plan for service delivery improvements within the agency," Jearline Williams said through a spokeswoman. Bowie could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Jesse Goode, general counsel for Human Services, would not comment specifically on Bowie's situation but said: "Human Services is going through a restructuring and realignment process. Within that process, we are looking at numerous management changes and recruiting to fill positions."

A spokesman for Mayor Williams said that "the director of the Department of Human Services is realigning that agency, with the full support of the mayor." The spokesman said that Bowie, who has the right to request another job in city government, may be given another position in Human Services.

After The Post's series was published last month, the mayor called Jearline Williams and demanded an accounting of the group home situation. He also ordered the evacuation of two group homes for the mentally retarded that were operated by longtime city contractor Rollie Washington and his wife, Dorothy.

In its series, The Post found that D.C. officials had known for at least five years about life-threatening conditions and what federal court monitors called "serious" neglect of retarded residents at the Washingtons' homes. During that period, Human Services paid the Washingtons $ 4 million to run the group homes, even though they were not licensed to run a business in the District.

Bowie is the second high-ranking Human Services official to be removed in recent weeks.

A. Sue Brown, acting administrator of the District's Income Maintenance Administration, was placed on paid administrative leave March 1. D.C. Inspector General E. Barrett Prettyman Jr. is investigating whether Brown steered a $ 6.6 million welfare-to-work contract to a company co-operated by her landlord.

G&S Associates, the company that was awarded the contract, had no experience in job training. Arthur Stubbs, the company's co-owner and Brown's landlord, also lent his own home, a $ 1 million Foxhall mansion, for the wedding of Brown's niece two years ago.

Brown's attorney, Frederick Cooke, said she would not comment on the case. The U.S. attorney's office and Human Services Director Williams have declined to comment. Human Services officials said that Williams requested the investigation of Brown.

Bowie has directed the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration since 1995. Before that, she was the special assistant to the head of Human Services, according to agency officials. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bowie ran the Service Facility Regulation Administration, the division in charge of licensing within the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.

At a hearing last month that followed publication of The Post's series, D.C. Council members expressed outrage at the abuse of mentally retarded people in the city's care.

After the hearing, Bowie said: "We have providers who are bad apples and may have taken advantage of the inability of government to properly monitor them." But she said the agency had identified its shortcomings and developed a plan to improve oversight of group homes that included the hiring of additional monitors.

Yesterday several Human Services employees said workers there fear for their jobs. "First it was Sue Brown, now it's Frances Bowie," said one employee who asked not to be identified. "Who's next?"

DHS officials said yesterday that Jearline Williams has not chosen Bowie's successor.

Staff writer Katherine Boo contributed to this report.