Rhode Island Asks to Dismiss Foster Care Lawsuit UPDATED

Children’s Rights filed a 2007 lawsuit “for an overhaul of the foster care system. Jametta Alston, the state’s child advocate at the time, filed the suit on behalf of the roughly 3,000 children in state custody. Ten children who were allegedly abused while in foster care, were listed as plaintiffs and identified by pseudonyms.”

“The lawsuit says the state’s child welfare system is underfunded, mismanaged and in need of a radical overhaul. Lawyers for the plaintiffs are seeking class action status.

Since the suit was filed, all but two of the children named in the lawsuit have been adopted and are no longer in the foster care system. Of the original 10 children named, seven remain plaintiffs.”

“The lawsuit is asking the court to order the state to place a cap on the number of cases foster care workers can manage, to improve training for those workers, to increase the number and types of foster homes, to speed up the rate of adoption and to move children in foster care less frequently.”

“Brenda Baum, a state assistant attorney general representing Rhode Island, argued that adoption invalidates the children’s inclusion in the lawsuit.”

“Another U.S. District Court judge, Ronald Lagueux, dismissed the lawsuit in April 2009 because, he said, the adults standing in for the children weren’t close enough to the children to act on their behalf. That decision was overturned by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston last year. Lagueux recused himself and sent the suit to Lisi.”

A ruling is expected shortly.

State asks judge to dismiss foster care lawsuit
[Turn to 10.com 5/6/11 by Ian MacDougall]

Update: “A lawsuit alleging that foster children in Rhode Island are routinely neglected and at risk of harm while in state custody may go forward, a federal judge has ruled.

The class-action lawsuit filed by the national watchdog group Children’s Rights says the state’s foster care system is plagued by widespread, systemic problems that leave children’s needs unmet and put youth at risk of emotional and physical harm.

The state had sought to have the suit thrown out, saying the federal court has no jurisdiction to hear the case and that the suit is moot because several of the 10 children initially named as plaintiffs have been adopted.

In a ruling Wednesday, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mary Lisi dismissed the complaints of five original plaintiffs because they are no longer in the custody of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families. But Lisi allowed the case to proceed with the two remaining plaintiffs, who are still in the state’s care.

Children’s Rights had itself earlier withdrawn the claims of three plaintiffs when they were adopted.”

Supplemental Complaint

“On July 1, Children’s Rights filed a supplemental complaint seeking to add five new plaintiffs to the case.

In the four years since the suit was filed, that complaint says, children in the state’s custody have continued to be at risk every day. It says the Department of Children, Youth and Family subjects them to “maltreatment in foster care at one of the highest rates in the country, frequent moves, inappropriately restrictive placements, a lack of services to meet their needs, and the likelihood of growing up without a permanent, loving family.”

Among those the group wants to add as plaintiffs are a 14-year-old girl whom DCYF allegedly allowed to remain in her mother’s care despite reports that she and her sisters had been physically and sexually abused, and a 15-year-old girl also allegedly permitted to remain with her parents after caseworkers learned of physical abuse and severe neglect in the home.

The supplemental complaint alleges that the rate of abuse in foster care in Rhode Island is nearly four times the national standard.”

Federal judge rules that watchdog suit over state’s foster care system may go ahead
[Associated Press 7/21/11 by Erika Niedowski]

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