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Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Tennessee foster children file class action lawsuit against DCS leaders
A group of foster children accused top leaders of the Tennessee Department of Children's Services of failing to protect them and others in the department's care in a scathing new lawsuit. The class action suit was filed on May 19 in federal court by 13 foster children ages 1-16, alongside their legal representatives. It named DCS Commissioner Margie Quin and two of her deputies, Carla Aaron and Karen Jointer Bryant, as defendants. The 74-page suit details a litany of issues with DCS from 2017 onward, which marked the end of federal oversight of the department following Brian A., et al. v. Bredesen, et al., a previous lawsuit known commonly as Brian A. The new lawsuit says DCS has since failed to protect children from harm, investigate sexual abuse claims, vet foster parents and provide proper mental health and educational support for children in custody. It also says the department continues to overburden caseworkers, despite Quin's claims in recent years that caseloads were capped for new hires. The suit went on to say DCS committed "widespread and systematic" violations of children's rights, including unsafe placements in transitional homes or inadequate facilities like state offices and hotels for months on end. It also lambastes the state's reliance on privately owned facilities to place children as a foster family shortage continues. More: Tennessee children are still sleeping in DCS offices despite transitional home expansion New York-based nonprofit A Better Childhood is representing the children in the lawsuit, along with law firm Barry, Bass and Sims. Marcia Lowry, a lawyer who worked on the Brian A. lawsuit, now directs the nonprofit. "It is very troubling that Tennessee turned its back on protecting children after the Brian A. lawsuit ended,' Lowry said in a May 20 news release from the organization. "This foster care system got better when the state was under a court order, but those efforts disappeared after court oversight ended. It is sad to think that Tennessee foster children have to fight this fight again." A spokesperson for the Tennessee Office of the Attorney General, which represents DCS and its leaders, declined to comment on the case. DCS has been under a wave of scrutiny since 2022 when it was revealed that hundreds of kids were spending nights in state office buildings as the agency struggled to find immediate placements for them. The revelations came just a few months after Quin took over leadership of the department. In March 2023, Quin told state lawmakers that children were no longer sleeping in DCS offices. However, Tennessean reporting revealed that children began staying in DCS offices again by November 2023. The trend continued into 2024 and this year, albeit at a much lower rate than before. Earlier this year, DCS told The Tennessean the issue stems from a growing number of children with severe behavioral or medical needs who can't safely be placed in temporary, transitional homes. The department also has grappled with securing beds for children through private health care partners. In February, Quin told The Tennessean the lack of beds for children with intensive behavioral needs is an ongoing concern, but said things have improved since the state increased its provider payment rates by nearly 10% since 2022. When asked why the state does not have its own facilities for children with complicated needs, Quin's answer was direct: "Because we don't do that well. We don't need to do that." Quin also said she has worked to cap caseloads for new hires and expand training, raise salaries and bolster retention for caseworkers. More: Tennessee's DCS commissioner came onboard amid 2022 crisis. Here's what's changed in her first two years. The new class action lawsuit is the latest in a series of lawsuits against DCS. A lawsuit filed in July 2023 said DCS failed to connect undocumented immigrant children with a federal program that would give them a path to lawful permanent residency, also known as a "green card." In 2024, a judge approved a final settlement that included a comprehensive DCS policy change to support immigrant youth. In February 2024, a Black couple filed a lawsuit against multiple DCS employees, Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers, Coffee County and its sheriff's deputies after their five small children, including a breastfeeding baby, were taken away from them after a March 2023 traffic stop. In June 2024, a lawsuit filed by three families and Disability Rights Tennessee, a nonprofit legal services organization, claimed unconstitutional mistreatment and "barbaric violence" faced by young people with disabilities in juvenile detention centers. Both cases are ongoing. Rachel Wegner covers education and children's issues for The Tennessean. Got a story you think she should hear? Reach her via email at RAwegner@ You can also find her on Twitter or Bluesky under the handle RachelAnnWegner. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee foster kids sue DCS: 'Turned its back on protecting children'
Newsweek
20-05-2025
- Newsweek
Foster Care System Accused of 'Warehousing' Kids Without 'Necessities'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A group of Tennessee foster children has sued the state, alleging that its Department of Children's Services "is failing the children it is intended to protect to protect those in its care." Newsweek reached out to DCS, which deferred comment to the Tennessee Attorney General's Office. The office had no comment. Why It Matters This lawsuit spotlighted ongoing challenges in Tennessee's child welfare system, raising national concerns about the care and safety of foster children. The complaint suggested that violations persisted despite previous federal oversight, and that thousands of children in state care remained at risk. What To Know The 74-page class-action suit filed Monday alleges that DCS "warehoused children in spaces which lack the necessities of life," according to a complaint reviewed by Newsweek. The suit, filed on behalf of more than 9,000 Tennessee foster children, involves 13 foster children, aged 1 to 16, who seek to represent the interests of the state's broader foster care system. The plaintiffs, through their attorneys from the New York-based nonprofit advocacy group A Better Childhood and the law firm Bass, Berry and Sims, accuse DCS of housing children in conditions they described as unsafe and lacking "the necessities of life," including adequate food, bedding, soap and potable water. "Intended as temporary placements, DCS leaves children in these situations for months on end," the lawsuit said. "Once placed in 'long-term' placements, children fare no better. DCS contracts with facilities which possess well-known track records of physical, mental, and sexual abuse." The complaint states that children were kept in transitional homes established after earlier reports revealed children were sleeping in DCS office buildings due to a shortage of foster placements, but that these settings continued to provide substandard care. The plaintiffs argue that children spent extended periods in temporary placements without adequate provisions, citing not only unsafe and unsanitary conditions but also failures to provide sufficient health care, mental health services, and education. Marcia Lowry, founder and executive director of A Better Childhood, told Newsweek that her organization became privy to Tennessee foster system complaints last year. "These are kids in a variety of circumstances, but all of them are children in foster care, and all of them are children who are being harmed by the system in Tennessee," Lowry said. It led to a year of research, investigation and discussions with those involved to determine whether a lawsuit was warranted. The historic courthouse in Sevierville, Tennessee, as seen on October 27, 2022. The historic courthouse in Sevierville, Tennessee, as seen on October 27, 2022. Getty Images The decision to file on behalf of the 13 individuals was based on the fact that some of them were in the places mentioned in the suit, like assessment centers or sent to out-of-state institutions lacking basic, necessary services. "Some of the children were placed basically without any regard to their needs," Lowry said. "Some of the children are in a facility that was actually closed years ago because it doesn't have potable water there, but the children are there now. I think that some of the facilities do not have cooking facilities, so the children are not even getting decent nutrition. They are in facilities that don't provide education to them, and it says they're providing education, but do not in fact have teachers and distribute basically worksheets. "I suspect—I don't know this for a fact yet—but I suspect that there is no treatment going on among the children because there's no programming for them. Those are the kinds of things that we're concerned about and that we think are happening," she said. Lowry said that one of the children is in a facility where he's afraid and tells people so. Other children have suicidal ideation, and "some of them are trying to kill themselves because they're so depressed about the facilities they're in." Most children bounce from place to place, she added. The complaint cites specific child experiences, including that of Dewayne W., a 15-year-old who spent three years in DCS custody and purportedly experienced seven placement changes and "unnecessary harm through unsafe living conditions and deprivation of adequate education." Another plaintiff, Jasmine G., 15, entered custody at age 12 after being trafficked by her biological mother. The suit states that DCS failed to provide the necessary therapy for her trauma and placed her in an out-of-state facility over 1,500 miles away, for more than 18 months, due to in-state placement shortages. The suit also alleges that DCS caseworkers are "overworked and undertrained," echoing concerns that led to previous oversight following a 2000 class-action suit called "Brian A." That suit was named after Brian A., a 9-year-old boy who was one of eight named plaintiffs at the time the case was filed in 2000. At that time, he had spent seven months in a dangerous and overcrowded emergency shelter in Memphis and was housed with older boys accused of violent crimes and sexual assaults. Brian A. was not provided basic mental health treatments, casework services, or appropriate schooling, as DCS had nowhere else to place him. In 2017, former DCS Commissioner Jim Henry said this about that lawsuit and the approximate 16 years in which DCS was tasked with mandated milestones to overhaul its foster care system: "We've got to be honest: we didn't have a system here in 2000. I mean, we deserved to get a lawsuit. The fact is, we're a much better system now. We're better off for it, the kids are better off and I think the taxpayers are better off." That lawsuit ultimately pointed to a decline in the quality of the foster care system after federal court oversight ended in 2017. Plaintiffs now claim that the absence of supervision has resulted in diminished rights and protection for Tennessee's foster children. "Case workers turn over, the retention rate is not high," Lowry said. "And so workers don't stay in their jobs, partly because the workers themselves are people who are, most of them, committed to trying to help kids and then find that they cannot because their costs are too high, or because the state does not have the right kinds of programs for these kids. There are systemic problems, and certainly in Tennessee." A 2020 report from the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth said that Tennessee ranked No. 1 nationwide for how often foster kids have to move to a different home, according to Nashville-based WKRN-TV. That year, roughly 33.7 percent of children in the state's foster system were placed in three or more homes during their first 12 months in custody. What People Are Saying The lawsuit: "Foster care is intended to be temporary, until children can either be reunited with their families or placed in another permanent home; however, children in Tennessee linger in foster care and are moved from place to place without the opportunity for a stable childhood." What Happens Next The lawsuit is expected to proceed through the federal court system. State officials have not issued a public response on the matter as of publication. Future developments will depend on the court's timetable and any decisions regarding preliminary injunctions, discovery, or potential mediation. A Better Childhood is currently involved in 11 lawsuits in states nationwide. Lowry expects Tennessee to attempt to dismiss the suit.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Federal judge dismisses lawsuit meant to improve WV's troubled foster care system, problems persist
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, located at One Davis Square in Charleston, (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch) A federal judge on Friday threw out a lawsuit brought by foster children in 2019 against the state that sought to mandate changes in the troubled system. West Virginia foster care, which has been overburdened amid the state's substance abuse crisis, continues to house children in hotels and group homes due to a shortage of foster families and appropriate mental health care for kids. There's a shortage of child protective services workers to check on children, and current workers remain overburdened with cases. While problems persist, U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin said that the issues can't be resolved by a federal court. 'This court cannot take over the foster care system of West Virginia,' Goodwin wrote in an opinion dismissing the case. 'West Virginia's foster care system has cycled through inaction, bureaucratic indifference, shocking neglect and temporary fixes for years. The blame squarely lies with West Virginia state government.' 'When elected officials fail, the ballot box is the remedy,' he said. A Better Childhood, a New York-based nonprofit organization that brought the lawsuit with the children, said they will appeal the decision. 'We are stunned and shocked by the court's decision,' said Marcia Lowry, A Better Childhood's executive director. She referenced a recent Kanawha County incident where a child in an abuse and neglect case attempted suicide after being placed in a hotel by state CPS. Goodwin's dismissal order came on the same day that Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Maryclaire Akers ordered a monitor be put in place to oversee CPS placements in hotels and camps. 'Neither the Legislature nor the executive branch have acted to protect children from the horrors of abusive homes, placements in hotels, attempted suicide brought on by despair. Now the court – the last resort to protect constitutional rights – turns its back too and says that it will not protect the children. We plan to appeal as quickly as possible,' Lowry said. The Department of Human Services, which oversees foster care, did not immediately return a request for comment. The lawsuit also alleged that the state failed to properly care for thousands of children by leaving them to languish in the system with no plans for permanent homes. DoHS has tried to have the case thrown out, citing improvements to the system like hiring additional CPS workers. The state has paid more than $6.3 million to Brown and Peisch, a law firm in Washington, D.C. that has provided the state's legal counsel in the case since 2020. Goodwin, in his 19-page order, said he recognized that this result was 'an unsatisfying result to years-long litigation demanding improvement of West Virginia's foster care system.' 'I know that there are children who deeply suffer in the custody of the state,' he wrote. 'This compelled dismissal is in no way an endorsement of the system as it remains … State officials can no longer hide behind this lawsuit to avoid the consequences of their political decisions.' Disability Rights West Virginia also represented children in the lawsuit. 'West Virginia's policymakers and politicians have failed our children, and DRWV has a number of legal initiatives in the works to do what our state leaders fail to do,' said DRWV Legal Director Mike Folio. The organization recently launched a children's first initiative to 'prioritize limited resources to protect West Virginia's children in foster care and the juvenile justice system,' he said.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Yahoo
Trial delayed in sweeping West Virginia foster care lawsuit brought by children
(Greenleaf123 | Getty Images) Foster kids' wide-sweeping lawsuit about West Virginia's troubled child welfare system will not go to trial in March after the state successfully sought a delay. The class-action suit, filed nearly five years ago, alleges that the state sent children to unsafe homes, overworked Child Protective Services workers and left kids to languish in the system. While the state Department of Human Services said there have been improvements, many of the system's problems persist while there are 6,080 kids in foster care. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin postponed the trial until May 6. The delay comes after a private lawyer representing the state said he couldn't attend a pretrial meetinging scheduled for February because he would be out of the country for his mother's 70th birthday celebration. A Better Childhood, a New York-based nonprofit that brought the suit on behalf of foster kids, objected to the delay due to the state's 'lack of diligence in addressing this scheduling conflict,' according to court records. 'This failure to find an amicable solution is discouraging,' Goodwin wrote in the order. The suit has faced numerous hurdles since it was filed after the state sought to have the case thrown out and it was moved to a different judge. Attorneys for A Better Childhood said they've struggled to get key documents about the foster care system, and last year, the state was sanctioned for failing to preserve emails from former top foster care officials related to the case. The misstep could cost the state $172,000 in sanctions, according to fees requested by plaintiffs. The state has paid more than $6.3 million to Brown and Peisch, a law firm in Washington, D.C. that has provided the state's legal counsel in the case since 2020. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
