Federal appeals court dismisses class action lawsuit over Alaska’s foster care system

A federal appeals court last week dismissed a class action lawsuit that sought to force major reforms in Alaska’s foster care system. In 2022, 13 children who had been placed in Alaska’s foster care system sued the state Office of Children’s Services and accused the agency of routinely violating the rights of children and endangering juveniles in state custody. A partnership of attorneys, including the Northern Justice Project, the Disability Law Center of Alaska and A Better Childhood, a national nonprofit headquartered in New York, filed a civil complaint on behalf of the children and called for a judge to order sweeping changes to the state’s child welfare system. The group appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit after U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed the case in March after an 11-day trial in Anchorage. Gleason found that the foster youths, including those whose stories were shared at the trial, weren’t harmed or didn’t face serious risk of harm, according to the 60-page document detailing her decision. The appeals court ordered the case dismissed on July 31 after attorneys for both sides in a document filed earlier last week said they had agreed to voluntarily drop the case. It’s unclear why the attorneys moved to dismiss the lawsuit. In a statement, the Department of law said the foster children’s attorneys “elected to withdraw their appeal before briefing began.” A July 28 filing alerting the appeals court of the request didn’t include any details of a deal beyond the two sides agreeing that each “shall bear its own costs and fees on appeal.” A Department of Law spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to emailed questions about the dismissal. An Office of Children’s Services spokesperson said Tuesday afternoon that he was working to provide additional information in response to questions. Representatives of A Better Childhood also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Some of the biggest concerns with Alaska’s foster care system highlighted in the civil complaint included high worker caseloads that were sometimes three times the national average, excessive employee turnover rates, children shuttled between foster homes too frequently and not enough Alaska Native children being provided with homes or services required by the Indian Child Welfare Act. A Better Childhood has filed similar class-action lawsuits seeking to reform child welfare systems in other states or jurisdictions, including Oregon, Indiana, West Virginia and New York City. Some states, such as Oklahoma, have made improvements based on court orders. Alaska’s acting attorney general, Cori Mills, said in the statement that court-mandated reforms are expensive and have been ineffective in other states. The dismissal ensures that Alaska retains the power to design foster care system changes that account for “the unique child welfare challenges our state faces,” the statement said. “There is always room for improvement in how we support children and families,” Mills said in the statement. “But meaningful reform happens through thoughtful policy and cooperative innovation here in Alaska, not through expensive lawsuits brought by outsiders.” The lawsuit hasn’t been the only attempt at improving the state’s foster care system in recent years. It’s also not the first lawsuit the Office of Children’s Services has faced over accusations that it provided inadequate foster care. In 2018, Alaska lawmakers passed a suite of reforms, House Bill 151, meant to improve OCS foster care services by stabilizing the agency’s workforce and reducing caseloads, among other provisions. But Office of Children’s Services officials faced tough questions from lawmakers earlier this year after a legislative audit found that the agency had failed to meaningfully implement those reforms. Foster care caseloads for case managers remained high while OCS still struggled to hire and retain qualified workers despite millions in new funding, according to the audit.

(Source：Anchorage Daily News)