Lawsuit: State failing foster children
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By BUTCH MABIN / Lincoln Journal Star
Nebraska’s foster care system fails to protect thousands of abused and neglected children and is in need of overhaul, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.
Children’s Rights of New York is seeking a court order directing the state to provide legally mandated care for the more than 6,000 children in foster custody in Nebraska.
“Simply put, the lawsuit is about getting the state to meet its obligations,” Douglas Gray, lead attorney in the case for Children’s Rights, said in an interview Monday.
Gray said the lawsuit was preceded by nearly two years of Children’s Rights review of records, including state and federal audits, and interviews with child advocates in the state.
“We’re enthusiastic to have this case off the ground,” he said. “The sooner we get going … the sooner we can get a court order to provide for kids.”
Kathie Osterman, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Health and Human Services System, said Monday the department had not yet thoroughly reviewed the lawsuit and declined comment.
But Osterman said Nebraska has made significant progress in its child welfare improvement plan. The plan, in its third year, aims to enhance the safety and well-being of children in the state.
“The results so far show we’re on the right track and have made progress in many areas,” Osterman said. “(W)e are committed to reaching the goals that have been outlined and established in that plan.”
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Lincoln, named as defendants Gov. Dave Heineman and several HHS officials.
Children’s Rights, along with the Lincoln-based Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, three Lincoln law firms, an Omaha firm and a Chicago firm, filed the suit on behalf of five children who, according to a Children’s Rights news release, “have suffered physical and psychological harm” while in state custody.
Gray said attorneys for the plaintiffs would seek class-action certification in a separate filing for the more than 6,000 children in state care.
According to the lawsuit, the defendants have known of the “serious systemic deficiencies” in the foster care system for many years yet failed to adequately address them.
Among the alleged deficiencies:
* A severe shortage of foster homes. As a result, children are too often placed in the first available home, rather than receiving a placement suitable to their needs.
* Low pay to foster parents. According to the lawsuit, Nebraska pays its foster parents less than $8 a day, the lowest rate in the nation.
* Children who spend a large portion of their lives in foster care because of inappropriate case management.
* Children who get bounced from placement to placement, or are mistreated or receive inappropriate services while in foster care. As of December 2003, 53 percent of foster children had experienced four or more placements.
* Overcrowded foster homes.
* High caseloads among state caseworkers.
Gray said Children’s Rights began examining Nebraska’s system in 2003 after child advocates — including juvenile court special advocates and attorneys — contacted the organization about shortcomings in juvenile services.
“At their invitation, we got on a plane,” he said.
The organization conducted interviews with hundreds of foster and adoptive parents, judges and caseworkers and reviewed thousands of documents, including a federal audit in which, Gray said, the state “performed quite poorly.”
He said the investigation began before then-Gov. Mike Johanns initiated social services reform that led to the hiring of more than 100 new state caseworkers. The governor was prompted by reports of the deaths of 33 children from abuse and neglect in recent years.
The reforms did not address the foster care system, however.
“We had hoped this would be part of a broader sweeping reform,” Gray said. “It seems like the effort lost steam.”
Mary Jo Pankoke, executive director of Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, defended the state’s foster care system Monday. The system has its shortcomings, she said, but added, “I think we’re on the right track.”
Pankoke said she worried the lawsuit would actually hamper the state’s efforts to improve the system. She said child advocates in other states faced with similar lawsuits told her the lawsuits diverted resources away from reform.
“My concern is it’s (the lawsuit) going to distract us away” from improving the system, Pankoke said.
But Carol Stitt, executive director of the Nebraska Foster Care Review Board, said the lawsuit was needed.
“These problems certainly have not been hidden,” she said.
Stitt continued: “Our system continues to deteriorate. Why? Nebraska has yet to put in a prevention system.”
Such a system, she said, would provide services to children and their families before the children are removed from homes, thus reducing the number of youngsters in foster care.
Stitt said an effective prevention system would reduce the number of children in state care by up to 30 percent.
Gray said the cost of fixing the problems outlined in the lawsuit was difficult to pinpoint.
“It’s really difficult to quantify,” he said. “There’s a lot of waste there in the system. (And) there are ways for the state to draw down federal dollars that it isn’t.”
Gray said Children’s Rights has filed similar lawsuits against 14 other states and cities. Thirteen of the case resulted in consent decrees calling for changes. A judge dismissed a case the organization filed in Florida, he said.
Reach Butch Mabin at 473-7234 or at bmabin@journalstar.com.
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