Foster system returns to court

Group challenges whether agency has done all it can

By Adam Wilson | The Olympian • Published June 29, 2008

• Comments (0)

Twelve-year-old Jessica Braam had been in 34 different foster homes by the time a lawsuit was filed on her behalf.

That was 1998. Six years later, the state Children's Administration reached an agreement with lawyers representing Jessica and a dozen other children. The Braam Panel, composed of child welfare experts, would oversee improvements to the way foster children are cared for.

After four years of effort, hiring hundreds of social workers, and spending millions of dollars on improved services, the Children's Administration is back in court again, defending itself from charges it has failed to live up to its promises.

"We have exhausted the Braam process. We think they need to be told by a court that they need to comply," said Casey Trupin, an attorney for Columbia Legal Services, which represents the foster children.

At issue is whether specific improvements have been completed. But in a broader sense, the return to the courtroom will test the state's contention that it has been doing all it can.

The agreement set standards in areas that help foster children, such as the size of social worker caseloads, requiring monthly visits between siblings and screening of foster children's health.

The Children's Administration has plans to meet those requirements, but just got funding for some of them in March, said Steve Hassett, senior counsel for the agency.

To demand workers follow all of the new rules immediately, or to ask the state to overlook the huge costs of improving services "simply denies the reality of child welfare practice," he said.

No one wants the case to go back to court, but that was an option both sides agreed to in 2004, said Paola Maranan, executive director of the Children's Alliance.

"This is a situation where the measure is not whether money was allocated. The measure is, was there change for kids?

"And if there wasn't change for kids, we have to back up and do it right," Maranan said.

If the Whatcom County judge hearing the case agrees with Trupin's argument, the state could be ordered to make changes.

The Children's Administration, however, can point to major improvements during the last four years, including adding about 490 social workers and receiving an additional $35 million this year for issues like sibling visits and hiring 12 more people to conduct health screenings.

Trupin says the issue is no longer money, but whether the agency is doing what it says it will. He pointed to the caseloads standard, which he says are supposed to mean no social worker should have more than 18 cases.

The state has been tracking the number by an average caseload per social worker, not by individual loads. Using that method, the ratio of children to social workers is 18 to 1 now, Hassett said.

"It's a different way of looking at the data, and its not what the (Braam) Panel would like, but it shows two things: It shows the department is close by any standard, and more importantly, there is a downward trend," he said.

Neither side could say how soon a ruling in the case might be issued.

Adam Wilson covers state workers and politics for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-753-1688 or awilson@theolympian.com.