The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette
The claims made on behalf of nine foster children in a lawsuit filed against the Indiana Department of Child Services and Gov. Eric Holcomb in Federal District Court on Aug. 16 are as heartbreaking as they are regrettably familiar.
Indiana continues to see turmoil in a department whose very existence is to protect the most vulnerable youth.
Attorneys with New York City-based A Better Childhood, SouthBank Legal and Kirkland & Ellis LLP represent the children and are pursuing class-action status in the U.S. District Court on behalf of the more than 11,000 children in the state’s foster system.
Among the claims made, the plaintiffs accuse DCS and the governor of failure to recruit and retain adequate numbers of caseworkers and foster homes; provide timely medical treatment; ensure placement stability; and maintain and update medical records, as well as provide accurate medical information to foster parents.
Using pseudonyms, the suit claims Allen County siblings have suffered from physical and sexual abuse and have been diagnosed with depression and other mental health disorders. They were removed from their mother in 2015 and again in 2019 after the children disclosed to DCS that she “had not fed them for several days as punishment.”
The lawsuit claims the siblings would not have suffered additional years of trauma if they had received timely and appropriate treatment.
The case was referred to Magistrate Judge Michael G. Gotsch Sr., and the court issued a summons to the defendants on Aug. 24. The state has until Sept. 9 to reply.
DCS and the governor’s officer have not commented on the suit. However, if the facts of the claim are actual in part or in whole, the pain caused is made worse because the governor and DCS senior administrators were warned nearly six years ago.
On Dec. 12, 2017, Mary Beth Bonaventura, who had worked in child welfare for 36 years, submitted to Holcomb her resignation as director of the Indiana Department of Child Services. In her resignation letter, Bonaventura said she could no longer protect children.
In four pages, Bonaventura thoroughly outlined her outrage. She claimed she was stripped of resources and control despite providing results. And she took the radical step of rebuking her chief of staff, whom she said was imposed upon her by the governor’s office. Without naming him, Bonaventura called Eric Miller “the greatest threat to this agency and child welfare.”
Miller was appointed to lead DCS in May, taking over from Terry Stigdon, Bonaventura’s replacement. Stigdon resigned without drama for a job with the regional American Red Cross.
The suit claims that the average time spent in foster care has increased by more than 100 days since 2017.
DCS did not supply answers before publication to questions on data about the lawsuit. What is available online, however, is DCS’s annual staffing and caseload reports filed with the state Budget Committee and Legislative Council. The last was recorded for the fiscal year ending in June 2022.
Indiana law requires DCS “shall ensure that the department maintains staffing levels of family case managers so that each region has enough family case managers” to fulfill the so-called 12/12/13 standard per caseworker as outlined in Indiana law:
• 12 active cases relating to initial assessments, including investigation of an allegation of child abuse and neglect;
• 12 families monitored and supervised in active cases relating to ongoing in-home services;
• 13 children monitored and supervised in active cases relating to ongoing services who are in out-of-home placements.
Only eight of 19 regions met the standard. This region was 91%, beating the statewide average of 89%.
Allen was at 87% of the standard, with 94 family case managers carrying a full caseload. In comparison, LaGrange, Steuben and Whitley counties were overstaffed.
In comparison, counties in Region 3 are woefully understaffed. Elkhart County was only at 65% staffing.
During the fiscal year 2022, DCS lost 941 family case managers and gained just 602.
Outside of staffing issues, the suit delves into problems experienced by the nine plaintiffs whose identities are private. All Hoosiers should have knots in their stomachs because this lawsuit speaks to a shared virtue of protecting the most helpless. Surely, the governor and DCS administrators are not monsters, but one child harmed – much less nine – is too many.
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