Juvenile
Jul. 20, 2002
Child Advocates Push for Federal Oversight
LOS ANGELES - Child advocates filed a federal civil rights action against Los Angeles County and the state of California Thursday, claiming that the county is unlawfully denying mental health services to children in foster care and has failed to the point where children are leaving the system more damaged than when they entered it.
They also alleged that the county Department of Children and Family Services has had an "abysmal record" of putting dependents through multiple placements and needless institutionalizations that lead to a downward spiral for the children in its care.
"For decades now, the Los Angeles County foster care system - our nation's largest, responsible for some 50,000 children - has been widely regarded as this country's worst: a tragic model of child neglect on the part of government," said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California.
Plaintiffs' attorneys stressed that they are willing to "sit down today" with county officials to begin restructuring the child welfare system. Failing that, their goal is to have the county's child welfare system placed under federal court order and under the supervision of a federal judge.
In addition to the ACLU, other groups involved in the lawsuit are the Center for Law in the Public Interest, Los Angeles; Protection & Advocacy Inc., Los Angeles; Western Center on Law and Poverty, Los Angeles; Bazelon Center for Mental Health, Washington, D.C.; Youth Law Center, San Francisco; and the Los Angeles offices of the national law firm of Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe.
Rosenbaum said that the plaintiffs' representatives are hopeful the case won't end up in a trial.
"We would like to sit down with the county and the state today," he said, "to work out a system that meets these kids' needs."
Roger H. Granbo, Los Angeles principal county counsel, said he has not seen the lawsuit and the county's policy is to not comment on pending litigation.
The complaint states that the situation in Los Angeles County "has reached a crisis point [that] cannot seriously be disputed: numerous reports by state and county commissions, as well as grand jury findings, media articles, and published research attest to the dismal failure of the county's child welfare system to provide appropriate care to the children who need it most." Katie A. v. Bonta, CV02-05662 (C.D. Cal., filed July 18, 2002).
Among the defendants are Diana Bonta, in her official capacity as the director of the California Department of Health Services; Los Angeles County and its Department of Children and Family Services; and Rita Saenz, in her official capacity as the director of the California Department of Social Services.
Ken August, Department of Health Services spokesman, said Thursday that his office was unaware of the lawsuit and therefore couldn't comment. And John Gordon, Department of Social Services' spokesman, said that his office had yet to be served.
At the heart of the class action is an alleged failure by the county to provide community-based mental health treatment services to emotionally troubled kids. The plaintiffs' attorneys contend that these services are offered throughout the country and by other California counties and that such funding can be accessed through federal programs.
Specifically, the class action alleges that the county is not providing appropriate mental health assessments, that children are being over-institutionalized and bounced from placement to placement, and that many kids are being unnecessarily yanked from their families because services are not available in the community to help them remain at home.
"Kids are brought in that shouldn't be brought in," Rosenbaum said.
The class action targets MacLaren Children's Center, the county's sole emergency shelter in El Monte, for its "sordid history of difficulties and controversies."
In recent years, MacLaren has largely become a long-term holding facility for troubled adolescents because county officials contend that they lack other placement alternatives. The cost for housing one child at MacLaren is $757 per day or $276,287 a year, according to a recent grand jury report.
"We began looking at the issue over a year ago by looking at MacLaren, and then, we saw the problems are throughout the system," said Lin Min Kong, a staff attorney with the Center for Law in the Public Interest. "We all agree that this has been a long time coming."
Five child plaintiffs are identified in the complaint by first name and last initial. The children's experiences are summarized as follows:
• Katie A. is a 14-year-old Caucasian girl who entered foster care 10 years ago because her mother was living on the street and her father was incarcerated. Since she entered county foster care, Katie has had 37 different placements. Among them were four group homes, 19 stays at eight psychiatric hospitals, a two-year stay at Metropolitan State Hospital and seven stays at MacLaren.
Michael Ludin, Katie's court-appointed special advocate, said during the news conference that his client "has never received the necessary mental health services she needs."
• Mary B., 16, is a legally blind Latina who has been in foster care for the last three years. Mary was taken from her family after being sexually abused by two male relatives and contracting a sexually transmitted disease. She is reported to be severely traumatized and has been hospitalized in psychiatric facilities numerous times since entering foster care.
Yet a DCFS social worker described Mary's problems as "hormones acting up," and she has yet to receive "thorough psychiatric or psychological evaluations," the complaint states.
• Janet C., 11, is an African-American girl who has been in foster care for more than two years. Janet was removed from her family following reports of physical abuse in the home. Janet has had several psychiatric hospitalizations, but she was in foster care for nine months, the complaint states, before she was given a mental health evaluation.
After that, the girl was diagnosed, the complaint states, as having "a wide spectrum of different and inconsistent psychiatric diagnoses."
• Henry D., 9, is a legally blind African-American boy. Henry has been in foster care twice after first being removed from his mother's care at age 4 after her boyfriend allegedly sexually abused him.
"Despite written documentation of Henry's serious behavioral and emotional problems just weeks after his removal, defendant DCFS failed to provide him with a mental health evaluation or with appropriate mental health services," the complaint states.
At age 7, Henry was returned to his mother. But he came back to foster care because his mother couldn't cope with his problems and there was further evidence that he was being abused.
Four years after his initial removal from his home, Henry was diagnosed with major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. But he did not receive intensive therapy for nearly a year. Since his second entry into county care, Henry has had 12 placements, been hospitalized three times and lived at MacLaren.
• Gary E. is a 14-year-old Caucasian boy with "significant emotional and behavioral problems." Gary's mother reportedly could not handle her son without outside support and therapeutic services so she voluntarily placed him in foster care. The boy spent six months in foster care before he was returned home with no services.
According to the complaint, DCFS reported to the Juvenile Court that it knew of no facility that was capable of meeting Gary's needs. Ludin also represents Gary, who was returned home with no services.
A court-appointed special advocate's "role is to report back to the Juvenile Court," Ludin said. "And often that role is to report that there are a lack of services available."
Some observers believe the class action will have a major impact on foster care reform.
One of them, Miriam Krinsky, the executive director of the nonprofit Dependency Court Legal Services, which represents children at the Juvenile Court, said the federal lawsuit raises serious issues and concerns.
Dependency Court Legal Services "sees these concerns on a daily basis and we'll be watching as the suit progresses," Krinsky said.
Krinsky added that she's hopeful that the combination of the federal lawsuit and a change of leadership at the Department of Children and Family Services will accelerate reform.
"Any change in leadership offers an opportunity for re-evaluation and finding ways to do better," she said.
Earlier this week, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the temporary hiring of an acting director for the Department of Children and Family Services following the ouster of Anita Bock, an attorney and administrator they believed was not up to the job.
Marjorie Kelley, the former No. 2 person at the state Department of Social Services during the Wilson administration, will be paid $15,167 per month for up to a year while a nationwide search is conducted for Bock's replacement.
Also this week, the county Commission for Children and Families met with other county officials to discuss ways to reform the ailing foster care system.
Cheryl Romo
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