In DeShaney vs. Winnebago County, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that despite multiple confirmed maltreatment reports the child protection agency had no responsibility for the murder of four-year old Joshua DeShaney because his father killed him, not the county. The Minnesota Appeals Court ruled in the Eric Dean case (Jepsen vs. County of Pope) that social workers and counties have immunity in child protection matters unless their behavior was willful and malicious, a standard rarely met.
However, successful lawsuits have been brought in foster care cases, such as the $1.5 million Hennepin County settlement with relatives of Kendrea Johnson. That’s because foster children are wards of the state.
So, then perhaps the best way to end child protection practices like avoiding fact-finding and record-keeping is to extract large financial settlements from counties when their practices have enduring harmful effects on foster children.
Listen to this blog post along with in-depth commentary on this week’s podcast.