Federal Trial Begins: Alaska OCS

“A federal trial began Monday in Anchorage for a class-action lawsuit against the Alaska Office of Children’s Services on behalf of all kids in OCS custody.

Marcia Lowry, an attorney and director of a national nonprofit advocating for foster reforms, said the organization is helping with this lawsuit because Alaska’s foster system has some of the worst outcomes in the country.

“They have a very, very high maltreatment rate,” Lowry said. “They do not have the kids visited every month. That’s a federal requirement children have to be visited, because how else can you know whether a child is safe when you put a child in a foster home?”

The complaint alleges OCS caseworkers have too many cases to be able to adequately serve families and that the agency has failed to place Alaska Native foster children in culturally appropriate placements, violating the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Former foster youth testified Monday that under OCS care, they moved placements frequently, missed school because of instability and experienced abuse and assault when they were placed in foster homes and hotels.

OCS director Kim Guay also took the stand Monday. She said all OCS employees are working to make positive changes in the system and that the agency has taken steps to increase recruitment and improve training.

Margaret Paton-Walsh, assistant attorney general for the state, is defending OCS in the trial. She said running the foster care system in Alaska is challenging.

“It’s especially hard in Alaska because of the size and the remoteness of so many of the communities, and we are doing the best that we can to manage the challenges that we have,” Paton-Walsh said. “And there are definitely challenges. Nobody is denying that. And I think critically in this context, we have a very, very severe caseworker shortage.”

Guay also repeatedly pointed out on the stand that OCS is only one piece of the child welfare system.

The trial is expected to take three weeks.”

Federal trial begins alleging Alaska OCS is failing children in foster care
[Alaska Public.org 8/26/25 by Rachel Cassandra]

While this case is still being decided, a foster youth organization is also suing for alleged lack of food and necessities.

“An Alaska foster youth advocacy organization is suing the state Office of Children’s Services for allegedly failing to provide food and necessities for older youth in their care.

The lawsuit by Facing Foster Care in Alaska claims foster youth placed in shelters or college dormitories don’t receive enough money for food or basic needs like they would if they were in a home placement with a family.

Facing Foster Care director Amanda Metivier said for years, she’s heard complaints from foster youth that they cannot afford to buy enough food or other necessities.

“For a young person in the dorm who needs transportation to a therapy appointment, the state has a duty to cover that cost,” she said. “When the (college) commons close during winter break and there’s no meal plan, we hear from those youth who say, ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna eat during winter break.’”

Alaska foster youth 16 years and older get a small stipend to help with transitioning to adulthood, for things like getting a driver’s license.

But Metivier said the stipend amounts to a small fraction of the more than $1,000 a month that foster families get to provide food and necessities for children in their care. Facing Foster Care has provided gift cards to cover transportation and food outside of meal plans and shelter meals, according to the lawsuit.

The Office of Children’s Services declined an interview for this story, but an official with OCS wrote in an email that they routinely offer food and clothing vouchers, bus passes and other transportation assistance, and that young adults have access to the same funding streams as younger children.

Metivier said her organization’s youth board works with OCS and has brought up the issue multiple times without resolution. She said some other states have better systems to provide stipends to youth living independently as they transition out of foster care.

“As a state, we’ve continued to see a decline in foster homes,” Metivier said. “We’ve continued to see challenges with workforce in the child welfare system, and those things are not going to improve overnight. And these youth have needs right now, and this would be a pretty simple way to solve that, right?”

Facing Foster Care in Alaska filed the lawsuit Jan. 6 in Alaska Superior Court.”

Foster Youth Organization Sues Alaska Children’s Services for Alleged Lack of Food and Necessities

[US News and World Report 1/21/26 by AP]

REFORM Puzzle Piece