$11.3 million dollars awarded in lawsuit against Georgia foster care system

The rate of abuse or neglect of foster children in Georgia is nearly twice the federal standard. A civil rights lawsuit was filed against Georgia's Department of Family and Children's Services (DFCS) in Fulton and DeKalb counties.

The purpose of this lawsuit, Kenny A. v. Perdue, was to stop ongoing violations of children's rights and to ensure that DFCS provides proper protection and care for the 3,000 foster children in those two Georgia counties.

In Fulton and DelKalb counties, during fiscal year 2000:

1.) Multiple placements: Approximately 450 children were moved to at least four different placements while in state custody.

2.) Poorly screened foster homes: Over 22% of children were abused by their foster parents or had to be moved from their foster homes due to harmful conditions or treatment.

3.) Prolonged stays:
-Over 50% of foster children had been in foster care for three or more years; almost 25 % had been in foster care for over six years; and over 10 % had been in foster care for over 10 years.

-The majority of foster children in Fulton and DeKalb counties had spent more than half of their entire lives in foster care.

-Moreover, African-American foster children in Georgia were frequently denied placement in adoptive homes on the basis of their race or color, despite the availability of willing and suitable adoptive parents, because their prospective parents were not also African-American. As a result, African-American foster children remained in state custody for unnecessarily long periods of time.

4.) Caseloads and caseworker turnover:
-Foster children regularly went six months or longer with a visit from their caseworker
- Between September 1, 2002 and June 30, 2003, over 68% of foster children had three or more different caseworkers.
-Caseloads ranged between 35-50 children per caseworker.
-Annual caseworker turnover rate was 71% in Fulton County and 33% in DeKalb County.

5.) Denied visitation with siblings: More than 25% of the foster children who had siblings in foster care in different homes were denied even a single visit with their siblings over an 18-month measurement period.

6.) Denied basic health care services. 43% of the youngest foster children, age two and under, did not receive a mandated health check up at any time during the most recent 12-month period of their stay in state custody.

6.) Unsafe emergency shelters: According to the Governor's appointed child welfare monitor, the Fulton shelter is unfit and the DelKalb center is grossly inadequate.

-As many as 28% of Fulton County shelter children and 20% of DeKalb County shelter were missing on any given day during 2001.

-The Fulton shelter was built to house 85 children, but exceeded its licensed capacity by taking in as many was 118. The DelKalb shelter, licensed for 35 children, housed up to 55.

- Shelters did not provide children with needed treatment or services, and exposed them to sexual assault, prostitution, gang activity and illicit drug activity

By stalling this case, the state cost themselves more money
Georgia fought this lawsuit for almost three years, before finally agreeing to:

-Numerical goals for reducing caseworker and supervisor caseloads
-Timelines for responding to reports of abuse and neglect for children in state care
-Increased contact and continuity of relationships between children and their caseworkers
-Specific goals for the quality of foster care environments
-Increased sibling visits and relative placements
-Timelines for delivery of healthcare services for children in state care
-Specific goals related to permanency plans for foster children

U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob awarded fees based on rates as high as $495 an hour for some of the attorneys in the case. He asserted that the state of Georgia is partly to blame because they fought the case so long.

"To a great extent," Shoob said in his decision, "the size of the award reflects state defendant's strategy of resistance against efforts to reform a foster care system that even they ultimately admitted was badly in need of reform."

Who gets the money?
In 2006, $11.3 million was awarded to the plaintiffs in this case. The money was split between New York-based nonprofit Children's Rights Inc., and the Atlanta firm of Bondurant, Mixon and Elmore.

Which leave me wondering how this lawsuit has ultimately affected the welfare and well-being of Georgia foster children.

The lawsuit was originally filed 'on behalf of' nine foster children who had received physical and/or psychological harm. How much of that money was given to them?

None, that I can see. I read the Consent Decree on childrensrights.org and it looks like all they're planning to do for those children is monitor their future placements.

Children's Rights Inc. plans to use their share of the money to fight battles for children's rights elsewhere. This is a worthy goal, but still leaves less money to help Georgia foster children.

The idea behind this lawsuit was to hold the state of Georgia accountable.

As Marcia Robinson Lowry, the executive director of Children's Rights has stated, "Given the state's long-standing knowledge of the harm being inflicted on children in its care, there is simply no excuse for continuing to operate a child welfare system so damaging to vulnerable children. It is time for the court to act, since state officials have failed to protect these children."

Her organization has been successful in bringing this issue to public attention. Doing so took hard work and a lot of time. Plaintiffs in the Kenny A. v Perdue lawsuit obtained over 75,000 documents from DFCS and the Department of Human Resources in the case and have taken over 30 depositions of DFCS managers and administrators. I'm not saying that they shouldn't be compensated for their efforts.

However, with less money available and more demands placed on the state, I wonder what the state success rate will be in complying with the lawsuit's demands, which include 31 outcome measures?

Ultimately, it seems that children will pay the price:
"Eleven million dollars could pay the salaries of every caseworker in Fulton County for a year, or it could pay for more than 1,800 children in foster care for a year," said B.J. Walker, the commissioner of the state Department of Human Resources. "Children are the losers."

Sources:
Foster Care Update: Kenny A. v Perdue. Action News WSBTV, Sept. 15, 2006.
Hess provides research revealing that foster children are unsafe and underserved in Atlanta, Georgia. News Release: Institute for Families in Society. Nov. 18, 2003.
Judge awards $11.3 million in foster care lawsuit. Associated Press, October 2006.
State agrees on settlement in Kenny A. lawsuit. Press release from the Georgia Department of Human Resources, July 5, 2005.
Wooten, Jim. Best interest of child carries little weight. Atlanta Journal Constitution, Jan. 6, 2007.

Lumping kids together doesn't create an atmosphere of safety

Today, I participated in a conference call, which was part of the ongoing training to be a virtual mentor for foster youth through the Orphan Foundation of America.

Three young people who are in the process of aging out of the foster care system were on the line, to share some of their personal experiences. One of them, I knew personally, having met her in October at the It's My Life conference. I recognized her voice right away!

Another young lady named Cherish mentioned that she had entered foster care at age 14, and was placed immediately into an emergency shelter. Why? Because she was older, and it would take time to find a foster care placement for her.

When I heard this, I asked her, "Did you feel safe? Who else was there in the emergency shelter with you?"

Cherish said, no, she definitely did not feel safe. Immediately after her entry in the emergency shelter, she was shocked by the behavior of other residents. One girl there went around breaking picture frames with her fists.

For the duration of time that Cherish spent in temporary shelter placements, she had to walk on eggshells. "There were locks on the doors and the windows -- but you have to share rooms in some of the group homes, and when your roommate is a shoplifter, you end up having to hide your most precious possessions or carry them around with you."

When Cherish entered foster care, it felt to her like her whole life had been turned upside down. "What did I do wrong? I had never been in trouble. I had never committed a crime. It was dangerous on so many different levels. I think there should be different group homes/shelters for different types of girls."

She continued, "Another thing that bothered me were the restrictions. Group homes usually operate by a point-system. Every day, you start out with no privileges at all. You have to clean house or copy out the dictionary just to earn privileges -- that's not how it works in an ordinary home."

Cherish talked about the stigma of being in foster care, "I had always been a good student. School was the one area where I felt safe, and where I excelled. But after I entered the group home, I had to bring notecards to school for teachers to sign. Other students notice things like that, and I was labeled as being a group home girl."

Cherish is currently in college, working towards her MSW. She works two part-time jobs; one of them as a behavioral health professional.

When one of the other participants in the teleconference asked Cherish what motivated her to enter college, Cherish answered, "Because I had been homeless two times. I wanted to be able to take care of myself and my family, and never have to worry about being without food or shelter again."

At what point do temporary shelters become long-term?

The Ohio foster care system has recently been under a great deal of scrutiny, and has been receiving national attention. Experts from various states are eager to propose strategies for improvement.

With all the challenges currently faced by the California foster care system, it’s interesting that California-based advocacy groups are finding the time to advise Ohio.

San Diego County detective Victoria Reden conducted a week-long review of three-year-old Marcus’ death. Reden was paid $3,178 plus travel expenses for her study and recommendations.

One of Reden’s recommendations for Ohio was the establishment of a 20-bed receiving center to house abused children temporarily, until they can be matched with foster parents. She referred to the Polinsky Children’s Center, as a California example.

Commissioner Mike Fox and chairman of the Butler County task force Dan Hare say that they are willing to explore that possibility.

But Carole Shauffer, executive director of the San Francisco-based Youth Law Center, recently warned them that while receiving shelters might sound good on the surface, in practice, “They wind up being a warehouse for kids that are difficult to place for some reason.”

Too often, temporary shelters facilities designed to house a small number of children for 30 days or less wind up becoming overcrowded, long-term way-stations.

Child Haven in Clark County is one tragic example. This Nevada facility was designed to hold 84 children and 20 infants. Yet, in June of this year, Child Haven held 205 children; 105 of whom were age 4 and under. Due to overcrowding, many young people were forced to sleep on the gym floor.

Length of stay can also become an issue. The Department of Family Service's policy was that children shouldn't stay at Child Haven longer than two weeks. However, upon investigation, it was revealed that children were remaining in Child Haven much longer. The average stay there was 45 days. One child had been at Child Haven for over two years.

Similar problems have occurred in California. My Nov. 14th blog entry details how LA County’s MacLauren Children’s Center became a dumping ground for emotionally disturbed children and how, since the closing of that center, foster children from toddlers to teens are often been housed overnight in caseworkers waiting rooms.

Sources:
Brooks, Candice. Plans to create temporary housing for abused children draws fire; Critics say ‘receiving shelters’ turn into orphanages that are mentally and socially detrimental to kids. Dayton Daily News, Nov. 22, 2006, p A10.
Kihara, David. Infant dies at Child Haven: Death latest in series of woes for system. Las Vegas Review Journal, August 16, 2006.
Kihara, David. Overcrowding: Child welfare groups warn of lawsuits Youth Law Center demands reforms. Las Vegas Review Journal, August 19, 2006.
McLaughlin, Sheila. Foster care reforms advised; Butler Co. gets list of how it can improve services. Cincinnati, Enquirer, Nov. 23, 2006, Metro pg. C1.

Foster Children & Emergency Shelters

The ideal vs. reality
Ideally, all teenagers would be linked with loving, permanent families before aging out of foster care. Realistically, that doesn't always happen.

More often, teens in foster care find themselves bouncing between various placements -- and sometimes, when a "bed" is not available elsewhere, spending time in an emergency shelter.

Imagine that you are a displaced teenager spending the night in an emergency shelter. What risks might you face? Would you be raped by a resident or staff member? Robbed? Beaten?

Would you emerge from that experience physically or emotionally scarred?

None of these groups is just like the other...
Consider the diverse populations that are often housed together in emergency shelters: juvenile delinquents, emotionally disturbed children and victims of child abuse.

All three populations are treated the same. That means that a physically or sexually abused child who enters an emergency shelter is treated the same as a juvenile offender.

This creates a dangerous and unhealthy environment, where healing is absent, victimization is frequent and supervision is often inadequate. Shelters can traumatize children, and often provide a breeding ground for abuse. Why remove abused teenagers from one unsafe situation, only to house them in another?

Don't call it "shelter"
-Oak Hill Homes, an emergency shelter in Georgia with lax security measures, became a virtual recruiting ground for pimps seeking underage prostitutes. Meanwhile, at a nearby shelter for boys, two workers were fired for getting into a fight with a resident.

-MacLauren Children's Center, in LA County, became a dumping ground for emotionally disturbed children. Employees were untrained to provide mental health services. Instead, they used physical restraint an average of four times per day -- causing broken limbs and other injuries.

It's all about the money
When people in power fail to invest in long-term solutions, facilities designed to house a small number of children for 30 days or less end up becoming long-term way-stations.

Licensed to take in a certain number of children, emergency shelters often end up over capacity. In terms of staffing, both pay and qualifications are often minimal.

The first solution that many state officials suggest is "privatizing." Unlike county-run facilities, private group homes and shelters are required to be licensed. However, like county-run facilities, private shelters need funding and expect some financial assistance from the government.

Licensing regulations supposedly prohibit overcrowding, limit the use of physical restraints and establish minimal staff qualifications and training. However, in Washington D.C., five private "respite centers" proved themselves to be just as inept and unsafe as county-run emergency shelters.

Finding them "a bed"
After the MacLauren Children's Center was closed, foster children (from toddlers to teens) were often housed overnight in the waiting room of an office building, waiting for their LA County social workers to find them a "bed."

Not a "family," adoptive or foster. Not the "best match." Not someone who might care for them and love them. Just a bed; someplace to spend the night. Not knowing where they'd be tomorrow.

This practice has been reported as recently as 2005, when six foster youth waiting in the office ran away.

Interestingly, in New York, some teenagers refused to leave their caseworker's office, finding it safer and more welcoming than the foster and group homes to which they were assigned.

Sources
Editorials: Georgia's foster children: Fewer shelters, more dollars a better mix for abused kids. Atlanta Journal, Oct. 24, 2002, p. A20.
Horowtiz, Sari. Short-term shelters for children under fire. Washington Post, Nov. 18, 2001, pgC1.
Larrubia, Evelyn. The state; foster children slept in office... Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2005.
Leonard, Jack. 6 foster kids have fled office... Los Angeles Times, May 21, 2005, pgB1.
Martz, Ron. Child advocate: Shelter funding, security poor. Atlanta Journal, May 20, 2001, pgF1.
Rainey, James. Action urged on homes for troubled youths; shelter: Advocates call on L.A. County to expedite separation of the emotionally disturbed from delinquents. Los Angeles Times, Oct. 14, 1997.
Rivera, Carla. Suit targets counties' shelters for children...overcrowded and dangerous. Los Angeles Times, Dec. 19, 2000, pgB1.
Swarns, Rachel. For children, another night on office cots. New York Times, Nov. 28, 1997, pgB1.
Thevenot, Carri. Plan to cut number of children in institutional care progresses. Las Vegas Review, Nov. 4, 2006, pgB1.