Lawsuit: Indiana Department of Child Services UPDATED

“A group of children filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday morning against Governor Eric Holcomb, the Indiana Department of Child Services and its director Terri Stigdon alleging Indiana is failing in its duty to protect more than 22,000 children in the state’ child welfare system.

The names of the children are not identified in the lawsuit.

More than 14,300 Indiana children are currently receiving care outside of the home, including with foster families.

The lawsuit alleges Indiana consistently fails to protect children by:

• placing them in inappropriate, unstable, or overly restrictive settings
• failing to provide necessary support services and medical care
• failing to provide meaningful case management resulting in delayed or no services and little oversight of a child
• allowing children to languish in foster care for years before they are reunified with their primary caretakers, adopted, or age out of the system

Foster children’s medical, mental health, and physical needs are not being met due to irregular DCS assessments and the lack of sufficient and available resources, the lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs allege state officials have been aware of the problems within DCS for a long time, and that many children are suffering from emotional and physical trauma due to the state’s failing child welfare system.

In December 2017, then DCS director Mary Beth Bonaventura resigned to Governor Eric Holcomb, warning that Indiana officials were placing children at risk “in ways that all but ensure children will die.”

A 2018 audit from the Child Welfare Consulting Group criticized the agency’s disorganization.

DCS has touted changes it has made since the 2018 audit, including a 17 percent decrease in total cases since January 2018 and a 14 percent decrease in out-of-home placements.

Staff turnover is down 18 percent, according to DCS, and has reduced attorney caseloads by adding 25 positions since January 2019, according to the DCS website.

The lawsuit alleges DCS appears to focus more on improving its statistics, by failing to properly investigate allegations or sending children home too quickly and without necessary services.

The plaintiffs hope to prompt Indiana to transform its foster care system, including by making sure DCS has enough properly trained caseworkers to meet the needs of foster children.

Nine children filed the lawsuit, representing a class of 22,000 children who are in DCS custody, as well as an ADA subclass of thousands of children with disabilities who became a ward of DCS.

RTV6 is working on getting responses from Governor Holcomb and DCS.

Indiana had 12 children per 1000 in the foster care system, which is double the national average, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Center report from 2016.

Indiana has the second highest rate of reported child abuse in the nation at 18.6 victims per 1000 which is over twice the national average (9.1 victims per 1000), according to a federal Child Maltreatment report from the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”

Children file class action lawsuit against Indiana Department of Child Services, Governor Holcomb

[RTV6 6/25/19 by Kara Kenney]

“Indianapolis Department of Child Services (DCS) director Terry Stigdon released a video statement Monday in response to a recent lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday, June 25 on behalf of children claiming “serious physical and psychological harm while in the state’s care.”

The statement by Stigdon acknowledges shortcomings of the agency in recent years, but says the lawsuit ignores regulatory steps taken and improvements made at DCS.

“Put frankly, DCS is simply not the agency it used to be. And continuing to rely on an outdated inflammatory account is misleading and harmful to children and their families,” Stigdon said.

She states that DCS has fully embraced recommendations from the Gov. Holcomb-commissioned Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group (CWG) report from last year.

The video and press release provided by DCS highlight the following:

• Downward trend in the number of children in foster care and residential placements
• Extension of services for older youth from 21 years of age to 23
• Better support for foster families, including new staff members to connect caregivers to much-needed resources
• Change in policy allowing staff necessary time to complete thorough assessments of allegations of abuse or neglect
• More manageable caseload for our family case managers and attorneys, so each child receives the individualized attention they deserve
• Increase in salaries for employees that better recognizes the complex work they perform on a daily basis
• 18 percent drop in staff turnover, which over time will lead to fewer disruptions in child placements
• Positive workplace environment recognized by the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute
• Creation of a robust training division for our courtroom lawyers to ensure we represent children to the best of our ability

“Had the advocacy groups behind this lawsuit approached our agency leadership, we would have shared these successes, including our plans for the months to come. But to my knowledge, no significant effort to reach out with their concerns was ever made,” Stidgon added.

In Monday’s statement Stigdon said there is still work to be done at the agency, and she expects to be criticized for past mistakes, but DCS is on the road to success.

“I want Hoosiers to know I take the concerns of all the children and families we serve very seriously,” she said.”

https://fox59.com/2019/07/01/indiana-department-of-child-services-responds-to-lawsuit/

[Fox 59 7/1/19 ]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “A federal judge upheld several legal claims this week raised by 10 foster children who have sued the Indiana Department of Child Services and state leaders claiming the state violated their rights by failing to protect them from harm when placing them in foster care.

Federal District Court Judge Richard L. Young’s decision allows the case to move forward toward trial.

As RTV6 reported in June 2019, a group of children filed a class action lawsuit against Gov. Eric Holcomb, the Indiana Department of Child Services and its director Terry Stigdon alleging Indiana is failing in its duty to protect more than 22,000 children in the state’s child welfare system.

The children are represented by Indiana Disability Rights, by A Better Childhood, and by the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

“This is a great victory for the children of Indiana,” Marcia Robinson Lowry, the attorney for A Better Childhood, said. “We can now proceed to develop the facts and prove to the court that it should bring an end to the unconstitutional harm that has been inflicted on so many Indiana children. These children are all entitled to a better childhood.”

The names of the children are not identified in the lawsuit.

“As the Court succinctly stated, the ADA requires the Dept. of Child Services to make reasonable accommodations or modifications to avoid discrimination of children with disabilities in the foster care system. This decision is a great step in the right direction to allow plaintiffs to show how DCS has systemically failed to make such modifications, which in turn has led to unnecessary or prolonged institutionalization of children in the care of DCS,” Nikki Gray, the attorney for Indiana Disability Rights, said.

The state had argued that the case should be dismissed altogether because a federal court purportedly lacks jurisdiction and because the plaintiffs’ complaint had allegedly failed to state legal claims, according to Indiana Disability Rights.

The director of the Indiana Department of Child Services called a class action lawsuit “puzzling” and “misleading” in a statement issued in June 2019.

“The timing of this filing is puzzling, considering the significant strides our agency has made since we publicly took responsibility for our shortcomings one year ago. I want Hoosiers to know I take the concerns of all the children and families we serve very seriously,” said Stigdon last year. “It is easy to cherry-pick our most challenging cases to support a narrative suggesting this is every child’s experience, when in reality, the average number of homes a foster child lives in while in DCS care is 2.”

More than 14,300 Indiana children are currently receiving care outside of the home, including with foster families.

The lawsuit alleges Indiana consistently fails to protect children by:

• placing them in inappropriate, unstable, or overly restrictive settings
• failing to provide necessary support services and medical care
• failing to provide meaningful case management resulting in delayed or no services and little oversight of a child
  allowing children to languish in foster care for years before they are reunified with their primary caretakers, adopted, or age out of the system

In December 2017, then DCS director Mary Beth Bonaventura resigned to Holcomb, warning that Indiana officials were placing children at risk “in ways that all but ensure children will die.”

A 2018 audit from the Child Welfare Consulting Group criticized the agency’s disorganization.

DCS has touted changes it has made since the 2018 audit, including a 17 percent decrease in total cases since January 2018 and a 14 percent decrease in out-of-home placements.

The lawsuit alleges DCS appears to focus more on improving its statistics, by failing to properly investigate allegations or sending children home too quickly and without necessary services.

The plaintiffs hope to prompt Indiana to transform its foster care system, including by making sure DCS has enough properly trained caseworkers to meet the needs of foster children.

Indiana has the second highest rate of reported child abuse in the nation at 18.6 victims per 1,000 which is over twice the national average (9.1 victims per 1,000), according to a federal Child Maltreatment report from the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”

Foster children’s lawsuit against Dept of Child Services to move forward

[The Indy Channel 5/14/2020 by Kara Kenney]