Five years ago, a national advocacy group and a local nonprofit filed a class-action lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Human Services. They didn鈥檛 want money. They wanted better care for kids placed in foster care; less abuse and more stable homes.
On Thursday, the two sides reached an out-of-court settlement agreement in the Wyatt B. v. Kotek case.
The settlement stipulates Disability Rights Oregon and the state will agree upon a 鈥渘eutral,鈥� an expert to oversee the foster care system and work with the individual to improve the child-welfare system, primarily by reducing the rate of mistreatment and improving the quality of placements.
. In the years spent fighting to defend its beleaguered child welfare system, five of the kids have aged out of the child welfare system charged with raising them. One of the kids is now in a state prison. One is living in their car. Three others are still 鈥渟truggling to transition into adulthood,鈥� according to information from Disability Rights Oregon. Two of them now have children of their own.
鈥淲hen I think about the amount of time and amount of money that has been spent litigating this it is really infuriating,鈥� said Emily Cooper, the legal director with Disability Rights Oregon.
It鈥檚 unclear how big the bill to taxpayers will be when the final tab for this court case is tabulated. The state hired the law firm Markowitz Herbold to defend its child welfare system. The latest contract with the firm set the maximum compensation limit at $19.5 million. The state will likely also be on the hook to pay the plaintiff鈥檚 attorneys, which include lawyers with Disability Rights Oregon, A Better Childhood, Rizzo Bosworth Eraut and Davis Wright Tremaine.
So far, the state has paid approximately $18 million dollars of taxpayer money to defend its trouble-ridden child welfare system.
鈥淭here is a big part of me that wishes fervently we could have settled this in year one,鈥� Cooper said, adding that plaintiffs knew if they couldn鈥檛 settle, the fight would likely continue for years with possible appeals.
One teenager who had spent time in foster care and who was set to testify in the trial said one of her state-certified placements was a shelter where there was never enough food and she wasn鈥檛 allowed to leave her room at night, even if she needed to go to the bathroom.
The now 19-year-old was worried about revealing her name because she still receives state benefits and was worried Oregon would retaliate.
鈥淚鈥檝e lived in many different homes. Different kinds of placements. I had a lot of different caseworkers,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he system has been broken for so long. (The state) is literally labeled as kids鈥� guardians because the parents aren鈥檛 fit. But they don鈥檛 currently feel fit to have that role.鈥�
The two sides must select the 鈥渘eutral鈥� expert by May 31, 2024. The person must have experience with child welfare systems and federal government oversight processes. Starting in 2026, the person chosen to oversee the child welfare system must annually review the progress the state鈥檚 Department of Human Services Department is making toward meeting agreed-upon goals, such as lowering rates of abuse and creating more timely professional mental health and medical assessments for the kids in care.
A history of little transparency and lack of accountability
Oregon for the state鈥檚 most vulnerable children in its care. And this is not the first time a court has been involved.
In 2023, to oversee the state鈥檚 Department of Human Services after Oregon continued to spend upwards of $25 million to house kids in hotels after they promised to stop the practice in 2018.
The state also where there was widespread mistreatment. The state touted its efforts to end that practice as part of its efforts to improve the system. But they reluctantly halted the practice and only did so after mounting pressure and
, the state wouldn鈥檛 say where the children were being sent, citing privacy issues. It became clear children were scattered across 16 states and no one from Oregon鈥檚 child welfare system was regularly visiting them.
When stories of abuse began to surface, the state finally went to visit children placed in one Utah facility. The same day, the state of Utah issued a report citing a list of violations at the same facility 鈥� from staff humiliating and degrading residents to a youth being put in a chokehold and rendered unconscious after being in a physical altercation with a staff member.
per day for every child placed in unlicensed short-term rental homes. After OPB reported on the unusual arrangement, the state canceled the contract with the provider.
But in a meeting with state lawmakers about the story after it was published, the head of the state鈥檚 Child Welfare program Aprille Flint-Gerner told them the story was factually incorrect and said she had requested OPB correct the article. The state had not asked OPB to correct the article. When OPB reached out to the state to see if anything needed to be corrected, a Human Services spokesman answered no.
Rep. Mark Gamba, D-Milwaukie, was on the call with Flint-Gerner, 鈥淚 was led to believe yes, that they had asked for corrections.鈥�
Marcia Lowry, the executive director of A Better Childhood, said Oregon has a high rate of mistreatment of children.
鈥淭here are thousands of children for whom the state of Oregon has assumed responsibility and, for many, is often their only parent,鈥� the lawsuit reads. 鈥淎nd it is, has been, and continues to be a constitutionally inadequate parent, revictimizing already vulnerable and innocent children.鈥�
State Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, D-Corvallis, who chairs the Senate Human Services Committee and was asked to testify said she鈥檚 glad the case is being settled.
鈥淚鈥檓 disappointed the kids didn鈥檛 get a chance to tell their stories in a safe place 鈥� It鈥檚 important to hear from them,鈥� Gelser Blouin said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 have a culture of retaliation for speaking out whether it鈥檚 real or perceived.鈥�
Fariborz Pakseresht, the director of Oregon鈥檚 massive Human Services Department, said in a statement the agreement was a 鈥渢estament to the progress we have made in child welfare over the past several years and allows us to focus on the important work ahead.鈥�
Copyright 2024 Oregon Public Broadcasting
