Lawsuit: Arizona Foster Care

“The class-action suit filed on behalf of children in Arizona’s foster-care system uses the cases of 10 children to illustrate what it alleges is deliberate and systemic neglect. Here are a few examples:

Charles P., 7, in state custody since June 2013

Over the last year and a half, Charles has been in 11 different living arrangements, including two stays in a shelter and one in a foster home where he said the foster mother hit him with a spoon. In one setting, his foster mother failed to pick him up from a visit with his sister (who was living in a different foster home), so the state Department of Child Safety told the girl’s foster mother to include Charles in her household.

The different housing arrangements resulted in Charles P. attending eight schools, including one where he was improperly placed in first grade when he should have been in kindergarten.

During this time, he did not receive the amount of therapy prescribed for him. He became suicidal, was placed in a psychiatric hospital for a week, then released to a shelter, then transferred to another shelter. He became suicidal again, was again hospitalized, this time for two weeks.

He now is in temporary placement, which has resulted in a decision to not start intensive therapy sessions until he is in a more stable environment.

Alex A., 10, in state custody since 2011

Alex and his brother were taken into state custody after their father committed suicide; their mother’s parental rights had been terminated.

The two were placed with relatives, although the younger brother was soon sent to a therapeutic group home. In April 2013, the juvenile court found the state made “no reasonable effort” to arrange visits between the two boys, and faulted the state for not helping Alex with school as well as failing to put him on an adoption list.

While living with relatives, state child-welfare workers were notified one of the relatives had posted a YouTube video of an adult using a stun gun on a 15-year-old child, while another child is heard screaming in the background. The state never investigated this, nor did it look into complaints that Alex was subject to corporal punishment at the home, the lawsuit states.

“During his time in state care, Alex has been placed in institutional care; deprived of necessary physical, dental and mental health care services; separated from his brother and deprived of sibling visitation; and, has been subject to missed visits by his state child welfare caseworker,” according to the suit. “As a result of these experiences, Alex has been subjected to emotional harm and/or an ongoing unreasonable risk of harm.”

Jacob C., 10, in state custody since March 2012

Jacob came under state care after suspicions he had been sexually abused. He was placed in a home that provides intensive treatment for six months, then moved to a non-therapeutic group home.

His mental health deteriorated at the new placement, and he was eventually sent to live with a relative, who did not take him to therapy appointments. Two months later, at age 9, he tried to kill himself by overdosing on psychotropic drugs.

When Jacob told caseworkers the relative had been beating him with a belt, he was sent to a foster home. The state conducted a criminal investigation of the relative for the reported abuse but the lawsuit provides no information on what resulted from that investigation.

After being moved two more times, including once to a therapeutic home in another county, meaning another change in school, Jacob is currently living in a home that provides therapeutic services.”

Suit details kids’ troubled time in foster care[Arizona Central 2/3/15 by Mary Jo Pitzl]

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