In 1977, Legal Aid of Western Missouri filed suit against the state of Missouri because of grave inadequacies within Kansas City's (Jackson County's) foster care system. Children's Rights was asked to join the suit soon thereafter. In 1983, the parties entered a settlement as a legally enforceable, court-ordered consent decree. In 1985, the court ordered the creation of an independent monitor. Despite these actions, significant reforms came about only after a 1992 contempt finding after full trial on the issue of non-compliance, which jeopardized the State Commissioner's job, forcing him to address the foster care system's severe under-performance.

A National Panel of experts was convened after the contempt trial to review the foster care system and issue recommendations. In 1994, the Panel recommended specific ways to speed reform and these suggestions were incorporated into a new consent decree and exit plan that was negotiated by the parties and entered by the Court as a new order. Since 1994, with intensive efforts from both parties to solve problems rather than litigate, the Division of Family Services (DFS) has come into compliance with many major elements of the consent decree. For example, DFS has achieved commendable compliance in areas such as case planning, service provision, certification/licensing procedures, and health care planning. Acknowledging these successes, the parties entered a revised consent decree and exit plan in 2001, and allowed DFS to exit the components of the Exit Plan with which they had achieved success for children.