Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare
Children's Rights Lawsuit
In 1993, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Children's Rights Project (now Children's Rights, Inc.) filed an action
in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin on behalf of an estimated class of
approximately 5,000 children who were receiving, or should have been
receiving, child welfare services in Milwaukee County. The Milwaukee County Executive, the Director of
Milwaukee County Human Services Division, the Governor,
and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services (now
DHFS) were named as defendants.
The complaint was a broad-based challenge to the
administration of the Milwaukee County child welfare system, alleging
that the county, among other things, failed to investigate complaints of
abuse and neglect, failed to provide services to avoid unnecessary
out-of-home placements, failed to provide appropriate out-of-home
placements, and failed to terminate parental rights and secure permanent
placements for children who could not be returned to their birth
families. The complaint alleged that the state failed to adequately
supervise and fund the Milwaukee County system.
In response to the lawsuit, during the 1995 legislative
session, Wisconsin Acts 27 and 303 initiated the state's assumption of
responsibility for providing child welfare services in Milwaukee County.
1995 Wisconsin Act 27 directed DHFS to submit a proposal to the
Legislature by April 1, 1996, which would outline a plan for the
Department to assume responsibility for operation of the Milwaukee
County child welfare system. Subsequently, 1995 Wisconsin Act 303 provided
initial funding, positions, and statutory authority for DHFS to plan for
providing child welfare services in five neighborhood districts in
Milwaukee County, beginning January 1, 1998.
After the enactment of 1995 Wisconsin Act
27, the parties
to the lawsuit entered into settlement negotiations based on the
possibility that the state would be assuming responsibility for child
welfare services in Milwaukee County. Negotiations broke down in
February 1996, and the parties were prepared to go to trial. However,
the Court dismissed much of the lawsuit in January 1998. This dismissal
was partially based on grounds that the state?s assumption of child
welfare services in Milwaukee County made much of the case moot but also that, for many of the
plaintiffs? allegations, federal law does not create privately enforceable rights.
Privately enforceable rights are rights that give an individual the
right to sue in order to have the government comply with provisions in
law. Therefore, the Court found that the plaintiffs had no standing.
The portion of the case that remained outstanding related
to alleged violations of the federal Adoption Assistance and Child
Welfare Act, (AACWA), which requires states to provide a written
permanency plan for every child in foster care and for a periodic review
of those permanency plans. The Court found that this federal requirement
does create a privately enforceable right for the creation and periodic
review of a permanency plan, but not for actual implementation of the
plan. The Court said that on this basis, the plaintiffs were entitled to
further hearings and a possible trial to enforce this right.
Settlement Agreement
Contact the
Bureau of Milwaukee
Child Welfare
Last Revised:
July 24, 2008
|
