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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Foster care report rekindles furor

Jennifer Byrd Associated Press

OLYMPIA – A new report by the state Department of Social and Health Services has foster care advocates threatening a lawsuit and the department defending its efforts to improve the foster care system.

The report released Monday was required by a landmark lawsuit – the Braam case – that was filed in 1998 on behalf of 13 foster children who sued the state for bouncing them around foster homes without adequate services.

Lawyers for the original lawsuit’s plaintiffs said the department has failed to reach statistical benchmarks it was supposed to have met by June 30, 2006, and that Gov. Chris Gregoire’s budget doesn’t do enough to meet the settlement requirements.

“We are certainly closer to court today than we were before this data came out,” said Casey Trupin, an attorney with Columbia Legal Services.

The state settled the Braam case in August 2004 by promising to make dozens of specific improvements, from more mental health treatment for kids to better training for foster parents. The agreement’s blueprint for changing the system runs for about seven years.

If the state breaks those promises, a judge could intervene and force Washington to pay for reforms. State officials have previously estimated that the overall reforms could cost about $50 million, and a lack of money is no excuse under the settlement terms.

Trupin said the new data showed that foster home bed capacity, placement of children with their siblings and mental health screenings decreased from 2005 to 2006 and were not at high enough levels to meet the settlement requirements. But the governor’s office and the head of the state’s Children’s Administration defended the department and its care of foster children.

Cheryl Stephani, assistant secretary for the DSHS Children’s Administration, said the department has strategies in place to improve the entire foster care system and that the state had done well on assessments required by the federal government.