NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Eight years after the state fulfilled obligations of a lawsuit improving the foster care system, thirteen foster children filed a class action suit on behalf of over 9,000 Tennessee children in foster care.
The lawsuit claims that the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS), DCS Commissioner Margie Quin, Deputy Commissioner Carla Aaron, and Deputy Commissioner of Child Programs Karen Jointer Bryant are failing to keep foster children safe.
The plaintiffs, children aged from 1-year-old to 16-years-old, said that they have suffered while in the custody of the state, with some stuck in the foster care system for up to eight years without being placed in a permanent home. The lawsuit claims that the system improved temporarily while under court supervision until 2017, during a lawsuit known as “Brian A,” but says the system now exposes children to a significant risk of harm, fails to investigate reports of abuse, and frequently moves children around various foster homes, institutions, group settings, and emergency placements. It claims the system is facing a critical shortage of foster families equipped to meet the needs of children entering foster care.
The suit also claims that many children are now placed in temporary assessment centers that are not performing assessments, that children are often housed with other children accused of crimes where they may be assaulted, and that children are relegated to facilities that are unsafe. The document says there is a serious shortage of case workers, with the average caseload per worker more than double what it was during the time under court oversight.
The lawsuit claims the state has allowed the system to deteriorate since the close of the “Brian A.” case and is well aware of how the foster care system has broken down and how children are now being harmed.
The “Brian A.” suit was filed against the state in 2000 for similar systemic failures, which resulted in a court ruling requiring the state to make improvements to the foster care system under court supervision. In 2017, the state had met the court-required metrics, and the supervision ended. The new lawsuit claims that the system has now deteriorated into worse conditions than existed in 2000.
“It is very troubling that Tennessee turned its back on protecting children after the Brian A. lawsuit ended,” said Marcia Lowry, an attorney on the Brian A. lawsuit and now the director of A Better Childhood, one of the groups filing the new lawsuit. “This foster care system got better when the state was under court order, but those efforts disappeared after the court oversight ended. It is sad to think that Tennessee foster children have to fight this fight again.”
