A landmark lawsuit over the poor treatment of children in Washington’s foster care system has come to an end, more than two decades after it was filed.
The agreement reached Friday in the Braam v. Washington case in Whatcom Superior Court documented that the state had complied for 18 months with reforms to improve conditions for children in state custody that were required under a previous settlement.
The parties have now agreed to dismiss the 24-year-old case.
“Braam shined a light on the risk and harm children faced in a system meant to protect them,” Merf Ehman, executive director at Columbia Legal Services stated in a news release. The nonprofit legal group represented the children in the lawsuit along with the Oakland, California-based National Center for Youth Law. “Even when it seemed impossible, the children in this case, and the lawyers working with them, imagined a system where children’s safety and well-being were foremost.” Ehman, whose firm advocates for laws that advance social, economic and racial equity for people living in poverty added:
“Systemic change like this requires a shared vision and unrelenting hope — even if it takes decades. We are so grateful to the children who took this on.”
In a statement sent to The Imprint, Jason Wettstein, spokesperson for Washington’s Department of Children, Youth and Families called resolution of the case a “major milestone.” As a result of the lawsuit, he said the state has enhanced its efforts to decrease the number of times children in foster care are moved, and improved their access to health screening and consistent medical care.
The case also improved efforts to reduce the number of children who run away from foster care, and to bring those who do back more quickly. He noted other benefits as well: “Braam confirmed due process rights of safety and services for youth in care. Braam has been a guidepost in our efforts to continuously improve child welfare — efforts that we are building on still today.”
Braam v. Washington was filed in 1998 on behalf of 13 children in Washington foster care who had been moved through multiple placements with alarming frequency. Court documents showed that one of the child plaintiffs was placed in different foster homes approximately 20 times over a 2 1/2-year period before age 5. Another child was put in 45 different placements.
Almost all of the children represented in the case had been separated from their siblings, and some were not provided with therapy after suffering sexual abuse.
The lawsuit was initiated by Bill Grimm, the late longtime attorney with the National Center for Youth Law whose litigation and legislative advocacy forced change in child welfare systems across the country.
Over the course of the 24 years since the case was filed, the lawsuit and its subsequent settlement requirements led to numerous reforms within the Washington foster care system, including a decrease in placement changes, improved practices to keep siblings together and more regular health screenings, according to the National Center for Youth Law.
When the case went to the Washington Supreme Court in 2003, the court acknowledged for the first time that children in foster care should be “free from unreasonable risk of harm, including a risk flowing from the lack of basic services, and a right to reasonable safety.” The case also set a notable precedent: that the state must provide conditions “free of unreasonable risk of danger, harm or pain.”
An oversight panel was eventually set up to monitor the state’s improvement — or lack thereof — in complying with a settlement agreement reached in 2004.
In 2011, a revised settlement agreement outlined 21 “outcomes” Washington needed to comply with in order to end the court-ordered monitoring. The outcomes included provisions that children receive monthly health and safety visits and annual screenings for mental health and substance abuse. Caseloads for line staff had to be reduced and reports of abuse and neglect more rigorously investigated. Children were to be placed with their siblings whenever possible, and when not possible, twice monthly visits ensured.
By 2017, there were two systemic problems that had to be addressed for the state to come into compliance with the terms required under the Braam lawsuit: the number of children reported missing while in foster care and the extended length of time it took to find them.
A 2019 article in The Inlander, a community newspaper covering the Pacific Northwest, described the issue, noting that about 375 kids run away from foster homes or facilities in Washington each year. The modified settlement agreement included goals to decrease the number of youth who run away more than once by 20%, and the length of time they are missing. According to the National Center for Youth Law, this year, the state was able to show that it had complied with the court settlement goals involving runaways, so both parties agreed to dismiss the historic case.
Nonetheless, there are still a slew of ongoing issues in Washington’s foster care system, some of which involve ongoing legal proceedings. Last year, the National Center for Youth Law joined with Disability Rights Washington and Carney Gillespie to file a separate class action lawsuit — D.S. v. DCYF — over the state’s practice of cycling children through unstable, makeshift sleeping arrangements. Young people in the system have often been shuttled from hotels to office buildings and even cars when the state has nowhere better to house them, “essentially rendering them homeless for extended periods,” the lawsuit stated.
That’s an issue other states have grappled with, including Texas.
Out-of-state placements have also come under fire in Washington. The 2021 lawsuit alleged young people are often further traumatized after ending up in non-therapeutic, locked institutions hundreds of miles from their families and communities. A settlement in that case was reached in federal court earlier this year, which will force Washington to make improvements such as providing a housing program for older youth who want to live independently, expanding resources for children with behavioral health needs, and increasing efforts to connect with extended families to avoid foster care placements.
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