class action lawsuit

A federal judge has denied the latest attempt by a pioneering legal advocate for foster children to proceed with a class-action lawsuit against New York City.

On June 1, a federal judge issued final approval for a settlement in a decades-old case to improve the experience of foster children in the nation's capital.

Indiana has one of the highest foster care removal rates in the country. Its child welfare system has been stressed more than most by the effects of the opioid epidemic. Its former child welfare director resigned in protest, warning that children would die without new spending and priorities.

  As the Oregon state legislature considers the fate of an increasing number of foster children sent to out-of-state institutional facilities, legal advocates filed a class-action lawsuit today in federal court designed to address the state of its “overwhelmed” child welfare system.

Bill Grimm, a long-time attorney with the Oakland-based National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), passed away on April 2 after a year-long battle with brain cancer. He was 69. Over a 40-year career, Grimm helped forge change for many troubled child welfare systems across the country through trailblazing litigation and legislative advocacy, including in Maryland, Arkansas, Utah, Washington, Nevada and California, among others.

Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) has been hit with a class-action lawsuit that accuses the agency of  inappropriate practices when it comes to frequency of placements in foster care.

Lawsuits, particularly class-action lawsuits, can be used to force public systems to right wrongs and make reparations by ensuring mistakes of the past aren’t repeated. In the case of child welfare, lawsuits are sometimes effective and other times they are not, but they nearly always cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey ruled this week that a class-action lawsuit over Missouri’s use of psychotropic medications for youth in foster care can continue. The decision moves forward a case that could potentially set some precedent on an issue that heated up in the earlier half of the decade and has taken a back burner lately: the mental health rights and treatment of vulnerable children.