U.S. Supreme Court Asked to Review Constitutionality of Judgment Denying Florida Foster Children Rig

PRESS RELEASE

Children's Rights charges appeals court decision violates children's constitutional right to sue Gov. Bush and other state officials when abused and neglected in state custody.

(New York, September 4) - Attorneys for Florida's foster children today asked the United States Supreme Court to review a judgment by an appeals court that closes the doors of federal court to children who have been abused and neglected while in the state's custody. The children are part of a federal class action lawsuit, Bonnie L. v. Jeb Bush, which alleges that the State of Florida's Department of Children and Family Services (DCF) runs overcrowded and inadequately supervised foster homes and other facilities that put children at risk of sexual and other abuse, neglect and other dangers while in Florida state care.

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These children are currently barred from pursuing their claims in their chosen federal court forum because the U.S. District Court's and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal's unprecedented expansion of the abstention doctrine of Younger v. Harris. Those courts claim that because these children have periodic reviews by Florida's dependency courts their lawsuit against Governor Bush and other state executives would interfere with that state court process. The children are represented by Children's Rights, a national advocacy organization, Karen Gievers, a Tallahassee attorney, and over 20 other Florida attorneys and advocates.

"Florida's foster children who are being abused and neglected by the state have had the doors of federal court slammed shut in their faces," stated Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of Children's Rights. "Where can they go to seek justice? These are the most poor and vulnerable of our children, who need and deserve more protection from the courts, not less. There are compelling constitutional rights at stake that make it vital for the Supreme Court to consider this case and strike down the judgment by the district and appeals courts."

Co-Counsel Karen Gievers stated:

Ever since Rilya Wilson' s unexplained disappearance was concealed from dependency court judges by Florida foster care officials, it has been clear that the safety of our foster children cannot be, and is not being, provided for adequately by the system itself, partly because the dependency court judges are totally at the mercy of DCF officials for information. The seemingly endless horror stories of children continuing to be abused by the very system which should be protecting them cries out for Florida's foster children to be given the same opportunity to be protected by the federal courts as the foster children everywhere else in the United States; indeed, the level of harm visible during the past year makes it clear that Florida's children may be even more in need of outside-the-system federal intervention.

The case presents the Supreme Court with a chance to review a dramatic and unsound expansion of Younger abstention that raises important issues about the interaction of the nation's dual system of federal and state courts. The Eleventh Circuit's decision turns a narrowly-drawn exception to a federal court's "virtually unflagging" duty to exercise its jurisdiction into a categorical bar to foster children in state custody seeking to enjoin prospective violations of their constitutional rights by the executive officials responsible for their care. The decision conflicts in principle with three decades of the Supreme Court's teachings on the type of federal court interference with state court proceedings that calls for application of Younger abstention. The decision also conflicts directly with decisions of other circuit courts applying Younger abstention, including those concerning application of Younger to factually similar child welfare reform litigation.

On behalf of Florida's helpless foster children, Children's Rights and all of the children's representatives urge the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and to correct the Eleventh Circuit's expansion of the Younger doctrine far beyond the federalism principles that justify it and to resolve the circuit conflicts on the important jurisdictional issues raised in this case.

Background on Bonnie L. v. Jeb Bush
The Bonnie L. v. Jeb Bush federal lawsuit was filed in 2000 on behalf of 31 named plaintiffs- children who have suffered serious physical and psychological harm while in the care of DCF and on behalf of the approximately 15,000 foster care children who are currently dependent on DCF for their care and protection. The defendants in the suit include Governor Jeb Bush and Jerry Regier, Secretary of DCF, and 13 sitting District Administrators of DCF.

Key facts and claims in the lawsuit regarding overcrowding of foster homes state that:

· DCF's continued overcrowding and inadequately supervised foster homes and other out-of-home care facilities expose children in DCF's custody to the imminent risk of sexual and other abuse, neglect and other dangers while they remain in DCF's care.
· DCF has put children in foster care placements that were dangerous, abusive, neglectful, overcrowded or wholly inappropriate and incapable of meeting the children's individual needs.

A federal magistrate in Florida, the Hon. Robert Dubé, upheld the legal claims in the lawsuit even though the state had moved to have all of the legal claims dismissed. He also recommended to the Hon. Federico Moreno of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida that the case proceed as a class action on behalf of all the children in the state. The district court, however, decided to abstain from adjudicating petitioners' constitutional claims and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that decision.

Children's Rights attorneys Marcia Robinson Lowry, Eric E. Thompson, and Douglas Gray worked on the certiorari petition, with assistance from other team members who are co-counsel in Florida including: Karen Gievers of Gievers, P.A.; William H. Fraser of the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County; Bernard P. Perlmutter and Carolyn Salisbury of the University of Miami School of Law; Christina A. Zawisza of the Child Advocacy Clinic, University of Memphis School of Law; Roy Wasson; and Deborah A. Schroth of Florida Legal Services; Ted Babbitt and Bob Montgomery of West Palm Beach; Wayne Hogan of Jacksonville, and Bob Kerrigan of Pensacola.

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.