### December 19, 2006 - released by Plaintiffs' Attorneys
Governor’s 2007-09 Budget Fails To Address Critical Foster Care Needs
Today the Governor released her 2007-09 budget. The budget provides some new funding for children in foster care, but has major gaps in areas needed to address the improvements required over the next several years by the panel established as part of the Braam foster care lawsuit.
“The Governor’s failure to include adequate funding for key areas such as health, sibling visitation, education, foster parent recruitment and support is incomprehensible,” said Casey Trupin of Columbia Legal Services, one of the agencies that represents the plaintiff foster children. “Sadly, approval of this budget would likely put the Department back in court for noncompliance.”
The budget language and press releases regarding the budget fail to even mention Braam. “The Governor continues to ignore the court-mandated requirements of Braam, despite the fact that she oversaw the signing of the Braam Settlement Agreement,” indicated Tim Farris, the attorney who originally brought the lawsuit. “Her approach is inexplicable and only hurts foster kids in the long run.”
The budget leaves out funding requested by the Department in a number of areas. For example, the Department requested and the Governor failed to include:
- Over 10 million dollars for visits between siblings; - Almost 6 million dollars for foster parent recruitment and retention and funding for a key foster parent survey required by Braam. - Almost 3 million dollars for new positions to help track the health and education outcomes for foster youth.
The Governor’s budget has significant and worrisome gaps as it relates to the Braam process. It neglects visits between siblings, foster parent recruitment, retention and support, respite care, education, health care and a number of other areas. The Governor’s budget fails to explain how it will reduce caseloads to 1:18, a critical requirement and an area of noncompliance for the Department. Importantly, the Governor failed to include millions of dollars to help the Department track compliance with the Braam outcomes, benchmarks and action steps. The Governor also failed to address the disproportionate outcomes that children of color experience while in foster care.
“This is the most critical juncture yet for the thousands of foster children in the state,” stated Trupin. “The Governor is leaving the children with very few options. We had hoped for a much more supportive budget but the Governor continues to ignore these court mandates. We’ve said it before – the Braam plan is not optional and the Governor, of all people, should understand this.”
Over the next few years, the Braam implementation plan requires the Department to improve outcomes in dozens of areas, such as:
The number of beds in active licensed relative and non-relative foster care homes The amount of training for foster parentsThe number of referrals alleging child abuse and neglect of children in out-of-home care that receive thorough investigation The percentage of school-age children whose placement allowed them to remain enrolled in the same school they were attending when they entered foster care The percentage of children who have completed and documented health and education screens within 30 days of entering careThe percentage of children experiencing a mental health crisis who receive crisis intervention services, when requested
“If the Governor’s budget appears likely to be approved without significant enhancements, we will have a tough decision to make,” indicated Farris. “Going back to court has to be a consideration with a budget that sets up foster children for failure.”
The Braam Panel was convened two years ago as a result of the settlement in the Braam vs. State of Washington - a lawsuit brought on behalf of thousands of foster children in the state of Washington who had been bounced from home to home by the foster care system. In February of this year the Panel released its Implementation Plan, which set out a definitive plan for reform over the next five years. The plan requires changes in six key areas that affect children’s lives in the foster care system: placement stability, mental health, foster parent training and information, unsafe or inappropriate placements, sibling separation, and services to adolescents. The plan sets out measurable outcomes, annual benchmarks, and interim action steps in order to turn the promises of the settlement agreement into reality. For more information, see www.Braamkids.org.
On Friday, June 23rd, the Braam Oversight Panel announced that it had rejected DSHS's Proposed Compliance Plan.
Following the Panel's Monitoring Report in March, which was highly critical of the Department's lack of progress, DSHS was required to develop a Compliance Plan addressing the 32 action steps that it failed to complete. While the Panel accepted a few of the recommendations made by the Department, most were not accepted. Now that its Compliance Plan has been rejected, the Department has 14 days to submit a revised plan. If the Panel does not accept the revised plan, or the Department fails to submit one, plaintiffs' attorneys may seek a court order to force the state to comply with the settlement.Among the key action steps addressed by the Panel are caseworker visits to foster children every 30 days, and devising a plan to meet caseload standards established by the national Council on Accreditation. The Panel said it is particularly concerned about DSHS deciding two years after signing the Settlement that these two "very significant action steps" were "overly ambitious" and "fundamentally flawed."
"Any item that was 'fundamentally flawed' should have been identifiable as such when the Settlement was reached," the Panel said.
The Panel also emphasized the importance of collecting data on progress, and stated that limitations of administrative data "cannot be used as a reason to ignore important commitments."
March 28, 2006 - released by Plaintiffs' Attorneys
First Braam Foster Care Monitoring Report Released State Fails To Fully Implement Most Requirements
Today the Braam Panel (www.braampanel.org) released the first bi-annual “Monitoring Report” which tracks the State’s efforts to improve the lives of children in foster care as required by the class action settlement. In its report, the Panel finds that the State has failed to complete over 70 percent (32 of 45) of the “action steps” that were to have been completed by December 31, 2005. Under the terms of the agreement, the State now has 30 days to come up with a compliance plan.
“The results are disappointing but not surprising,” said Tim Farris, the attorney who originally brought the lawsuit. “While it is clear that some in the Department are working on making changes, the overall picture is not at all where we hoped it would be at this point.”
The report finds that the Department has changed its policies in a number of areas, including how to deal with adolescent runaways, notifying parties of placement changes, involving parents and children in planning, and reporting placement histories to the court, among others. However, the Panel found that the Department had often failed to prove that policy changes were implemented and the lives of children in foster care actually improved.
“We are now entering a critical juncture,” stated Bill Grimm of the California-based National Center For Youth Law, which also represents the plaintiff children. “The state has precious little time to come into compliance.”
The State’s failure to comply is also of concern in light of their failure to request funds for a number of required items in the 2005 legislative session. The State had reported that “resource issues” prevented it from making improvements in a number of areas, including increasing foster parents’ access to respite care. However, neither the Department nor the Governor requested funding for respite or a number of other items in this legislative session. Adequate respite care is critical to keeping foster kids in stable placements and preventing foster parents from leaving the system due to burnout. “The Braam plan is not optional,” explained Casey Trupin, of Columbia Legal Services, also representing the children. “This plan is mandatory, based on the collective wisdom of the Department, the stakeholders, the Legislature and now a panel of experts. We will not allow it to be treated as yet another set of task force recommendations which can be disregarded.”
In order to help stakeholders, including foster parents and foster youth, understand the process, Plaintiffs have launched their own website, www.braamkids.org. The site will have information about the panel process, independent reports by the Plaintiffs, as well as other helpful information for those involved in the state’s foster care system. “We want to help make this process as accessible as possible to the foster youth whom this process is intended to benefit, as well as foster parents, and others who care about seeing improvements in the foster care system in Washington State,” explained Trupin.
The Braam Panel was convened a year and a half ago as a result of the settlement in the Braam vs. State of Washington - a lawsuit brought on behalf of thousands of foster children in the state of Washington who had been bounced from home to home by the foster care system. In February the Panel released its Implementation Plan, which set out a definitive plan for reform over the next five years. The plan requires changes in six key areas that affect children’s lives in the foster care system: placement stability, mental health, foster parent training and information, unsafe or inappropriate placements, sibling separation, and services to adolescents. The plan sets out measurable outcomes, annual benchmarks, and interim action steps in order to turn the promises of the settlement agreement into reality.
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February 3, 2006 - released by Plaintiff's attorneys
Final Braam Foster Care Reform Plan Released - Plan Requires State To Make Substantial Improvements Over Next Five Years
Today the Braam Panel (www.braampanel.org) released its long awaited “Implementation Plan” for reforming Washington State’s foster care system. The Plan’s release follows a series of public forums during which foster parents, social services providers, mental health experts, child advocates, and others in the community submitted comments and suggestions on earlier versions of the plan.
“For thousands of foster children, this plan represents the opportunity for every foster child to spend his or her lifetime in a safe home and with a family, not in a string of temporary placements with strangers,” said Casey Trupin of Seattle-based Columbia Legal Services, one of the attorneys for the Plaintiffs. “The panel worked diligently with the Department and with stakeholders to craft a reasonable but effective plan that, if followed, will ensure that foster children finally receive adequate services.”
The Braam Panel was convened a year and a half ago as a result of the settlement in the Braam vs. State of Washington lawsuit. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of thousands of foster children in the state of Washington who had been bounced from home to home by the foster care system, and focused on the multiple harms resulting from this constant instability. The case was settled in July 2004, after the Washington State Supreme Court held that foster children had significant constitutional rights that could not be disregarded, even due to lack of funding for key programs.
The plan requires changes in six key areas that affect children’s lives in the foster care system: placement stability, mental health, foster parent training and information, unsafe or inappropriate placements, sibling separation, and services to adolescents. The plan sets out measurable outcomes and annual benchmarks in order to turn the promises of the settlement agreement into reality.
"When a system is this broken, it needs a bold, comprehensive fix,” said Paola Maranan, Executive Director of the Children's Alliance. “Now is the time for everybody to get behind this plan and turn the system around. Kids have been waiting too long."
The Panel based much of its work on past studies, task forces, and Legislative priorities. The report notes that “To a significant extent, the Settlement directs the Department to perform activities required under Washington State law. Since 1987, 30 laws have been passed directing policies and procedures included in the Settlement.”
There are dozens of required outcomes. Highlights from some of the areas include:
Placement stability. The Department must decrease the number of children in foster care who are repeatedly moved from placement to placement. In order to do this, the Department is required to increase the number of active foster homes recruited each year, better match children with placements, and increase foster parent support and satisfaction. By July of 2010, the Department must reduce the number of children experiencing three or more placements by 50 percent, recruit 50 percent more foster parents, and, on average, retain foster parents for 15 months longer.
Mental health. Recognizing that many of the victims of abuse or neglect entering foster care have serious emotional and behavioral needs, the Department is required to see that children receive mental health assessments and services. Among other improvements, the Department must increase the number of children who have an initial physical and mental health screening within three days of their entry into foster care, decrease the number of children who have to switch mental health providers, and increase the number of children who actually receive appropriate and timely mental health services. For example, by July of 2007, the Department must ensure that 95 percent of foster children have their health care needs screened within 30 days of entering care, a long time goal of the Legislature. By July of 2007, the Department will also be required to ensure that 95 percent of foster children receive recommended services from qualified mental health care or substance abuse treatment providers within 30 days of entering foster care.
Adolescents. The Department must turn its attention to those children who runaway from care and treat those children with the same urgency that other missing children receive. The Department must do a better job serving adolescents, including reducing the number of students who change schools because of a foster care placement change, and increasing the number of students in care who are at the appropriate grade level. For example, by July 2010, the Department must increase the number of children receiving a high school diploma by 30 percent and must reduce the number of adolescents who run away from their placements by 80 percent.
Importantly, the plan also requires the Department to reduce the disproportionately negative outcomes experienced by youth of color in the foster care system.
The plan has great potential to serve as a model of reform for other states. If the Department implements this plan and the Governor and legislature ensure that the necessary resources and funding are available, the lives of Washington’s foster children will drastically improve. As they approach adulthood, these youth will be better equipped to live independently.
“When the state intervenes and removes a child from the home, it makes a promise to take care of that child,” stated Bill Grimm of the California-based National Center For Youth Law, which also represents the plaintiff children. “For too long, the state itself has been a neglectful parent - failing to help a child succeed in school, tolerating delays in obtaining treatment, and ignoring other needs that a caring parent would not allow. The state is required to be a better parent under this Plan.”
Plaintiffs’ attorneys have been and will continue to be involved. “We have been working on behalf of the children in foster care in the state of Washington for the last seven years, and we intend to see this through to ensure that this tremendous promise of reform is kept,” stated Tim Farris, the attorney who originally brought the case. “We recognize that the biggest challenge is yet to come, and we look forward to joining with foster children and those who work on their behalf to bring about the reforms.”
While all of the reforms in the plan are court-enforceable, plaintiffs’ attorneys hope that this will not be necessary. “We believe that everybody will work to bring about these reforms,” said Farris, “and that this issue will not have to return to court. But we will do what is necessary to fulfill the promises to the children.”
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October 20, 2004 - released jointly by DSHS and plaintiffs' attorneys
