Columnist Sandy Thompson: Multiple placements violate children’s rights

Sandy Thompson

Friday, Dec. 14, 2001 | 4:53 a.m.

WELL WHAT DO you know. A legal system has acknowledged that children have rights, and those rights can be violated.

A Superior Court jury in Washington state recently found that the rights of 3,500 foster children were violated because they were moved from place to place -- one child as many as 48 times.

The jury also found that the Washington Department of Social and Health Services failed to provide adequate mental health services for the children or proper training and support for foster parents. The verdict means that for the first time in Washington history, a Superior Court judge will oversee the state's foster care system. The state said it will appeal the verdict.

The case originally was filed on behalf of 13 children who had been placed in 208 foster homes while in the state's care. It later was expanded into a class-action suit; the state settled damage claims with the original 13.

According to news accounts, the state apparently downplayed the damaging effects of multiple placements (despite studies to the contrary). Comments ranged from "children are resilient" to "some children are beyond repair."

The latter fatalistic view rankles Bill Grimm, an attorney with the Oakland-based National Center for Youth Law, who was co-counsel for the children in the class-action suit. It's what he calls the "damaged goods theory" -- the twisted notion that since children come into the system already emotionally harmed, there's nothing the state can do for them.

Grimm argues that children are not Federal Express packages. Moving them from place to place is harmful emotionally and psychologically. "And that rises to the level of a constitutional violation," he says.

The damaging effect of multiple placements and the length of time spent in foster care were the major reasons the Nevada Legislature last session overhauled the state's child welfare system. Grimm had attended several local meetings on foster-care reform, which prompted some advocates to wonder if a class-action suit would be filed here if the Legislature failed to act.

Fortunately, after a year-long series of hearings, a legislative subcommittee convinced the Legislature that Nevada's system did indeed harm children and had to be changed. Unfortunately, lawmakers could not address mental health treatment services for these children because of the complexity of the issues and the staggering costs. In view of bleak economic forecasts, it's doubtful whether the 2003 Legislature will take up the issue, even though the need for such services is growing.

According to local parent advocates, an estimated 36 percent of children in foster care have a serious emotional and behavioral problem called Attachment Disorder. Because the children aren't in any one place long enough to develop loving relationships, they literally become detached. They do not learn to trust. In some instances they don't develop a conscience and they can't control their impulses. Some become violent. (A conference on the disorder is planned for Jan. 7 and 8 at UNLV. The parent advocates say it's imperative that youth service providers understand how to diagnose and treat the disorder. Call 303-674-1910 to register.)

Grimm hopes states and child welfare systems across the country will take notice of the Washington verdict and the "epidemic problem" of multiple placements.

Clark County, which is taking over the foster-care reins from the state, last week concluded a series of two-day summits on how the new child welfare system should be structured. The ideal system would drastically reduce the number of placements and focus on planning for permanency for these children soon after they enter the system.

To be truly effective, the system must be geared toward the child's physical, emotional and psychological needs. This is crucial to helping children develop healthy, trusting and loving bonds. The healthier those bonds, the less likely the children will develop serious emotional problems.

To do anything less would be a violation of these children's rights.