Bittersweet Justice- Washington-Amber Wright Case UPDATED Now Just Bitter

Occasionally there is justice for those negatively affected by the child welfare and adoption systems. Unfortunately, it is usually bittersweet and much too late. This will serve as REFORM Talk’s justice files.

Washington DSHS again has to make a payout of $2.85 Million. This time it is for Amber Wright who was returned to her abusive father.

“The agency also was ordered to pay a $650,000 fine in the same case in November 2011 for withholding public records from the victim during her lawsuit. It was the largest public records judgment ever imposed against a state agency.

The case began in August 2004, when local police placed the victim, Amber Wright, and her younger brother with their paternal grandmother based on allegations that her father had sexually abused her and given her drugs.

The Child Protective Services social worker developed a safety plan in which the children were not to have unsupervised contact with their father, David Wright, pending the results of the investigation.

Amber Wright, who was then 13, later denied the abuse had taken place. Based on her denial and an inconclusive forensic exam for evidence of sex abuse, the father was released without criminal charges at that time.

The Children’s Administration case worker then closed the case as unfounded on October 23, 2004, and both children returned to live with their father.

Amber Wright’s attorney, David P. Moody, said the girl was placed back with the father despite a “litany of warnings” from concerned neighbors, local law enforcement and other children who said they had also been abused by her father.

After Amber Wright was returned to her father, he moved from Sumner to Elma in Grays Harbor County, where the abuse continued, Moody said.

In 2005, the victim disclosed to her grandparents that she had been sexually abused by her father. The criminal investigation was reopened, and DSHS cooperated in that investigation.

The father eventually was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison after entering a plea to 14 counts of child molestation, child rape and incest. He also was required to register as a sex offender.

Amber Wright and her attorney then filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court, seeking $12 million from DSHS for returning her to live with her father.”

DSHS Changes

“Changes made since 2004 to strengthen the the focus on child safety include:

• Not simply taking a child’s word that they are not being abused or neglected.

• Conducting more thorough follow-up before closing a case, including interviewing all family members and making efforts to interview all collateral contacts.

• Implementing a higher level of review for all safety plans and improving supervisor training.

DSHS says significantly fewer children have experienced repeat maltreatment since Gov. Chris Gregoire mandated quicker response times to reports of child abuse and neglect in 2005.”

DSHS to pay $2.8 million to victim in sex abuse case
[KIMA TV 5/4/12]

 

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “A state appeals court has thrown out one of the largest Public Records Act penalties ever, ruling an abuse victim was not clear enough in her records requests to justify punishing the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

The ruling, issued Tuesday, could erase a penalty of nearly $650,000. But an appeal to the state Supreme Court is likely.

The case dates to 2007, when Amber Wright requested her DSHS file while she was preparing to sue the agency for allegedly leaving her in the care of an abusive father.

Wright eventually discovered she had not received some information, including a recording of an interview she had done with police about the abuse.

So her attorneys filed two lawsuits against the DSHS — one related to the abuse, the other accusing officials of withholding records.

The first suit was eventually settled for $2.85 million.

The second became the biggest ever penalty against a state agency after former Pierce County Judge Frederick Fleming found that DSHS officials withheld four documents: the audio recording and a transcript of it, agency investigation protocols and a training manual for prospective and adoptive parents.

Fleming described the officials’ actions as “an unbelievable obstruction of justice.”

But the appeals court disagreed. The court ruled the recording and transcript were juvenile records that were not subject to the Public Records Act (PRA), which Wright had used to make her request but were subject to another law.

The judges also said Wright’s request did not specify with “reasonable clarity” that she wanted the protocols and manual included with information about her own situation.

“We support the full disclosure and transparency goals of the PRA,” said DSHS public-records officer Kristal Wiitala in a news release after the appeals court ruling. “At the same time, we are not expected to be mind readers or to spend taxpayers’ money on searching for documents that could possibly relate, but were never requested.”

Wright’s lawyer, David Moody, called the latest decision “odd in light of the clear opinions expressed by the trial court.”

“Even children are entitled to public records,” Moody said. “The State Supreme Court will make this clear. Our client will file an appeal to the Supreme Court.””

 

Appeals court throws out $650,000 ruling against DSHS over record requests

[Seattle Times 9/12/13 by Brian Rosenthal]