Indiana Foster Kids Suffer Trauma While in Care, Class Action Says

Indiana’s Department of Child Services has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that foster kids suffer from neglect and are left in abusive situations.

The lead plaintiffs include nine foster children who claim that they and other kids in the system are put at risk while the Indiana Department of Child Services attempts to place them back in their homes.

According to the Indiana child services class action lawsuit, kids are placed in foster homes in the state at twice the rate as other children in the nation.

The foster kids bringing the Indiana child services class action lawsuit were all allegedly subject to a number of traumatizing experiences due to the department’s failures, including separation from siblings, extended time in care, missed paperwork, incorrect paperwork, failure to oversee placements, and failure to provide necessary services.

“While children are in DCS custody, Indiana fails to keep them safe, often placing them in inappropriate, unstable, or overly restrictive placements; fails to provide necessary support services and medical and mental health care; and fails to provide meaningful case management,” states the complaint.

“Many of these children unnecessarily languish in foster care for years before they are reunified with their primary caretakers, are adopted, or age out of the system. The delays caused by DCS inflict further emotional trauma.”

The Indiana child services class action lawsuit notes that in December 2017, the director of the Department of Child Services publicly resigned from the agency over concerns that kids were being placed at risk by child service officials.

Despite the director’s warnings in her resignation letter to Governor Eric Holcomb, one of the defendants in the class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs say that not much has changed.

According to the Indiana child services class action lawsuit, the state lacks the appropriate foster care resources to place the “staggering” number of children that are removed from their homes.

The lack of resources leaves children with few options. Some stay in emergency shelter care for extended periods of time. Others are separated from their siblings and/or are subject to multiple, disruptive placements, as well as inappropriately restrictive or unsupportive placements, allege the plaintiffs.

In addition, when placement with their parents is not possible, Indiana’s Department of Child Services fails to develop a contingency plan.

“[The Department of Child Services] has also failed to provide appropriate integrated community-based services, programs, or activities to children with disabilities who are wards of DCS, consistent with their individual needs,” contends the Indiana child services class action lawsuit. “Instead, DCS routinely places these children in overly restrictive residential or institutional settings. For many children with disabilities, their involvement in the child welfare system places them at a greater risk of institutionalization.”

The plaintiffs are seeking a court order declaring Indiana’s Department of Child Services conduct unconstitutional and unlawful and requiring the department to properly manage the foster care system in the state.

Required actions, according to the Indiana child care class action lawsuit, include maintaining appropriate caseloads for all caseworkers, ensuring foster children are evaluated for and provided all necessary services, requiring emergency evaluations be conducted for children who enter foster care within 72 hours, and developing appropriate permanency plans.

The plaintiffs are represented by Melissa Keyes and Nikki Gray of Indiana Disability Rights, Marica Lowry and Anastasia Benedetto of A Better Childhood, Aaron Marks, Carrie Bodner, Kristen Bokhan, and Kara Cheever of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

The Indiana Child Services Class Action Lawsuit is Ashley W., et al. v. Holcomb, et al., Case No. 3:19-cv-00129-RLY-MPB, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Evansville Division.

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