San Bernardino County child services sued on behalf of 5,800 foster children

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- The San Bernardino County Department of Children and Family Services is facing a legal battle.

The agency charged with caring for and protecting children is being sued on behalf of the nearly 6,000 foster children in its care.

"Basically, the children in San Bernardino County have been abandoned by the child welfare agency," said Marcia Lowry with A Better Childhood, the nonprofit who filed the lawsuit. The group pushes for reform in the child welfare system.

The lawsuit comes just five months after a San Bernardino County grand jury called CFS "too broken to fix" and recommended the entire department be replaced.

Like the grand jury, the nonprofit documented cases of abuse within the foster system through the accounts of 11 plaintiffs in the lawsuit, whose ages range from 15 months to 15 years old.

"They get placed in homes that are not adequately screened, they don't get visited as regularly as they are required to be visited, they don't have the case plans that should set out what the child needs," said Lowry.

The 68-page lawsuit filed on Thursday alleges the county's caseworkers routinely supervise up to 90 cases, far more than the national standard. The Child Welfare League of America recommends caseloads of 12 to 15 foster children per caseworker.

"It is really important to note, this is not the caseworkers' fault. I am sure there are many caseworkers who care a lot about the children they are supposed to serve but they can't just do it because the case loads are too high," said Lowry.

A Better Childhood and attorneys representing the organization are asking a federal judge to require the county to make serval changes including:

• Maintain a caseload for caseworkers in line with national standards

• Recruit and retain enough qualified employees to supervise children

• Require county to provide an individualized plan for children within 60 days of entering CFS

• Properly screen all prospective foster homes and conduct in-home visits and interview foster children separately from foster parents

"Our hope is that their homes they're in are safer from the start and then there could be permanent homes rather than allowing these kids to languish them for ... starting at age 5 and then at age 16, they still don't have a permanent home," said Polly Towill, whose firm, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, has taken the case pro bono.

Children and Family Services isn't facing the legal battle alone. The California Department of Social Services, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the County Board of Supervisors are also being sued.

"We are also bringing in the state of California because they need more funding. If they are going to be taking these kids away from their homes there needs to be funding to get them properly placed," said Towill.

Eyewitness News reached out to the San Bernardino County Children and Family Services, who issued a lengthy statement that read in part:

"Recent attention including from the San Bernardino County Grand Jury brings to light the struggles faced by every child welfare agency in this State. However, the County would like to note that while we appreciate the diligent work of the Grand Jury, many of their findings are not legally obtainable. We believe that much of the San Bernardino County Grand Jury's report was built off bits of information without understanding the full context of cases or how Children and Family Services (CFS) is mandated to operate by the state."

The statement goes on to say, "While the County acknowledges that it has many of the same challenges as other agencies throughout the State of California, and that reform in many critical areas needs to occur, leadership in this organization is proactively and diligently investing in building capacity within Children and Family Services to serve our residents and support our Social Workers in doing a very rewarding but difficult job."

ABC7 also reached out to the California Department of Social Services and individuals named in the lawsuit, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, none of which would comment directly on the allegations in the lawsuit.