Lawsuit: Alabama Department of Human Resources UPDATE Bittersweet Justice

“A Montgomery mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the State of Alabama Department of Human Resources after her daughter Porscha Echols was killed.

A teenager, who the lawsuit identifies as Echols’ 14-year-old male foster child, has been charged with murder.

The nine-count lawsuit names Alabama DHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner, Montgomery County DHR Director Karen Smith, Montgomery County DHR Assistant Director Jan Casteel and several DHR employees as defendants in the suit.

The lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday, claims the department failed to ensure the safety of 30-year-old Echols. It alleges that by placing a foster child with a history of violent and aggressive behavior in her home, Echols was ultimately murdered.

The suit further alleges that the child should never have been placed with Echols because of his violent history, and DHR failed to provide the child with proper mental health care.

“He should have never been placed in Porscha’s home,” said attorney Tommy James. “My client is dead because the people at DHR did not do their jobs and it is appalling that this was allowed to happen. This child should have received the mental health treatment they knew he needed. He easily could have been placed him in a home for troubled teens. These facilities are located throughout the state and DHR knows this. The foster care system completely broke down and failed Porscha Echols and her family,”

Echols, a well-known member of the community and former Montgomery Public Schools teacher, was killed in January 2017. Investigators determined her death was a homicide, and she had been suffocated.

The family’s lawyer argues there are flaws throughout the foster care system in Alabama.

“The rapid turnover of social workers handling these cases is shocking,” James said. “The caseworkers are not there long enough to learn the proper policies and procedures. There is utter chaos is in the system because the caseworkers are not following DHR policies and procedures. This chaos also led to Porscha Echols’ senseless death.”

Echols mother is demanding a trial by jury and requests that the court system require DHR and the other defendants “follow the policies, procedures, and regulations so that foster care placements are safe, proper, the monitoring of the home Is sufficient, that persons are properly trained, supervised and required to follow policies and procedures and that certification standards are maintained at all times.”

A DHR spokesperson said the department doesn’t comment on pending or active litigation.”

DHR, caseworkers sued in death of Montgomery foster mother

[WSFA 5/3/18]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“The family of a former Montgomery teacher who was fatally strangled by her 14-year-old foster son last year has settled a lawsuit with the Alabama Department of Human Resources.

Montgomery police and fire medics responded on Jan. 7, 2017, to the home of 30-year-old Porscha Echols. She was pronounced dead on the scene. The teen suspect turned himself in the following day and was placed in the Montgomery County Youth Facility.

Echols had recently retired after almost seven years with the Montgomery Public Schools system. She worked at three schools during that time: James Wilson Elementary School, Johnnie Carr Middle School and Goodwyn Middle School. She also was a well-known volunteer with Common Ground Montgomery, a youth ministry helping urban/ inner-city kids, the Montgomery Advertiser reported. And, she hosted Bible study sessions with fourth and fifth grade students, volunteered with special needs classes and did mission work in Thailand.

More than a year after Echols’ death, Birmingham attorneys Tommy James and Rodney Barganier, as well as Oklahoma attorney DaMario Solomon-Simmons, filed the lawsuit suit on behalf of Echols’ mother, Valetta Robinson. In addition to DHR, she named DHR Comissioner Nancy Buckner, Montgomery County DHR Director Karen Smith and other DHR employees as defendants in the suit. It was filed May 2 in Montgomery County Circuit Court, and later transferred to federal court in Montgomery.

Court records show a joint motion of dismissal was filed on July 24, 2018 stating that “the parties have reached an amicable settlement of this controversy and that this action should be dismissed in its entirety with prejudice,” meaning the case is permanently over and can’t be revisited.

James said the terms of the settlement are confidential. “All I can say is that Porscha’s mother and her attorneys are very pleased with the result,” he said. “Porscha touched many lives in the community and her loss is heartbreaking.”

“Her family is hopeful that her death and the settlement of this case will lead to positive change in the foster care system,” James said. “As a lawyer who handles these types of cases, it is refreshing that Governor (Kay) Ivey, Attorney General (Steve) Marshall and DHR all agreed to settle this case early rather than spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars defending a case that is indefensible.”

The suit claimed the state’s foster care system was negligent in putting the teen boy in Echols’ home because there had been multiple previous complaints of violent behavior in his prior foster homes. The lawsuit identified the teen boy only as J.B. Though he was charged with murder in her death, his name has never been released because he is a juvenile.

The suit claimed J.B. was referred to counseling by DHR because of his “bad behaviors.” “J.B. never received this counseling and instead was left in Porscha Echols’ home,” the suit stated. “J.B. was also required to undergo a psychological evaluation that never took place. These and other lapses directly and proximately led to the murder of Porscha Echols.”

According to the filing, Echols in September 2016 was approved by DHR as a foster parent. That same month, J.B. was placed in her home after he was taken from the home of his mother, who is bipolar, schizophrenic and suffers from other mental disabilities. “They were homeless and lived in shelters and on the streets where J.B. experienced all forms of abuse,” the suit stated, going on to say police were eventually called after an incident where his mother tried to assault him.

“He then entered the foster care system and lived in numerous foster homes due to his violent and aggressive tendencies and other inappropriate behaviors,” according to the suit. “DHR and the other defendants were on notice of J.B.’s prior violence and anger issues during his stays at other foster care homes prior to placing him in Porscha Echols’ home.”

“In fact,” the suit went on to say, “defendants were aware that J.B. was in desperate need of counseling due to his violent outbursts…attacking other foster children in one or more foster homes prior to his placement with Porscha Echols.”

The suit said the 14-year-old was prosecuted by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and sentenced to three years in juvenile detention.

The filing said the state’s Foster Parents Bill of Rights, enacted by the Alabama Legislature, provides foster parents such as Echols with the right to information concerning behavioral problems, health history, education status, cultural and family background and other issues relative to the child known to DHR. “It was inappropriate and improper to place and leave J.B. with Porscha Echols,” the suit stated, “because it put her health and safety at risk.”

“Porscha was loved throughout the community,” James said. “Her death is tragic. This was a young lady with no children of her own doing God’s work caring for children who had often times been abuse, neglected and abandoned by their biological parents.”

“The community outpouring after her death was overwhelming,” he said. “This young lady was certainly going places and her tragic death should have never happened.””

Family of foster mother fatally strangled by teen settles lawsuit with DHR

[Alabama 8/15/18 by Carol Robinson]