Settlement in Long-Standing Class Action Lawsuit Brings Promise of Reform to Philadelphia Child Welf

PRESS RELEASE

Plaintiffs and defendants in a lawsuit seeking to improve protection and care for Philadelphia's children today signed a settlement agreement that could lead the way to significant and lasting reform of that city's child welfare system. The lawsuit, Baby Neal v. Casey, was brought in 1989 by Children's Rights, Inc. (CRI), formerly the Children's Rights Project of the ACLU, and the Pennsylvania ACLU against the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on behalf of 6,000 children in the city's foster care system or at risk of foster care placement.

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The suit settled today charged that defendants were violating these children's legal rights by failing to provide them with legally mandated services. A crucial ruling in 1994 by the federal appeals court, reversing a lower court ruling, authorized the suit to proceed as a class action, broadening its scope to include all Philadelphia children either reported for abuse or neglect or in foster care.

"This settlement promises real benefits for children" stated Marcia Robinson Lowry, Director of Children's Rights. "While the Philadelphia Department of Human Services (DHS) has, during the course of this litigation, developed some very good plans and policies to improve services, our concern has been that these plans and policies have not been implemented. Today, after nine years of legal action, we have both a commitment that reforms will be implemented, and the legal means to ensure they are."

Terms of the Settlement

The settlement, which builds on the efforts of the agency's leadership, provides that information to monitor the agency's progress will be made available to the lawyers for plaintiffs, including periodic reviews of children's records. The settlement also contains an innovative provision aimed at avoiding further court battles. According to its terms, if the plaintiffs' monitoring leads them to conclude that terms of the agreement are not being carried out, the dispute will first be negotiated between the parties, and if that is unsuccessful, it will be brought to a jointly chosen child welfare professional for review and evaluation. The person designated by the parties is Dean Ruth Madden of the Bryn Mawr School of Social Work. Dean Madden's determination of the issues, and whether the agreement is being complied with, will then be presented to the court, to become an official court order.

Because the lawsuit addresses virtually every aspect of child welfare practice in Philadelphia, it is likely to lead to significant improvements in the way abuse and neglect investigations are conducted, in the provision of services to children and families, in the supervision of foster care agencies, and in speeding and ensuring adoption for children.

Documentation of Problems in Philadelphia System

In preparation for an expected trial in November 1998, CRI and the Pennsylvania ACLU had completed a record review of a sample of children's cases which is the first comprehensive documentation of problems within Philadelphia's child welfare system. Another expert report, prepared by Ira M. Schwartz, Dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania, concluded:

DHS's written plans, policies, and procedures, say all the right things. They are consistent with federal and state child welfare policies and give the impression of an agency with enlightened practices. However, the rhetoric in the plans and in other departmental documents bears little relationship to DHS's own data and the data collected by the plaintiff's experts. Most children removed from their homes and taken into custody by DHS can expect to stay in DHS custody for years. Many can also expect to bounce from placement to placement and placement to home, and back into placement again. For most children returned home, this means returning them to their birth parents where there is a reasonably good chance that they will be abused or neglected again.

Among the problems in the Philadelphia child welfare system highlighted in Dean Schwartz's report were the following:

High Caseloads and Low Standard of Social Worker Practices:

Despite a Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare regulation that prohibits social workers from being responsible for more than 30 cases (families), during the first seven months of 1997, there were between 57 and 80 DHS social workers with over 30 cases. At this same time, there were between 131 and 238 cases that were not assigned to any DHS workers.

In November 1996, which is the last month for which DHS collected information, DHS social workers made less than 45% of the required number of visits to children in direct DHS-supervised foster homes and 42% of the required visits to the biological parents of children in such placements. The compliance rate for visiting children placed with contract agencies was 70% and was 41% for the biological parents of such children.

Multiple Placements and Length of Time in Care:

Among the children in foster care in October 1997, less than half had had only one or two placements without interruptions, and 46% had had three or more placements. A full 20% of these children had had five or six placements.

Of children discharged from foster care between September 1, 1995 and January 1, 1997, 59% returned to care within four months of their discharge. Of the children discharged during the 10 months preceding October 1, 1997, 75% were returned to placement within four months of their discharge.

Of the children in care on January 31, 1998, 55% had been in custody for two or more years, 27% had been in custody for at least five years.

Slow-Moving Adoptions:

Of the children in DHS custody with a goal of adoption on October 29, 1997, 75% had been in care for three-four years, 61% had been in care for more than four years, and 46% had been in care for more than five years.

Of the children in DHS custody on March 29, 1997 who had a goal of return home, 18% had been in foster care for more than 3 years, and 12% had been in foster care for more than 4 years. It is unlikely that these children will, in fact, be returned home.

Children's Rights works throughout the United States in partnership with national and local experts, advocates and government officials to document the needs of children in the care of child welfare systems. Children's Rights helps develop realistic solutions and, where necessary, uses the power of litigation to ensure that reform takes place.