Survey: State still falling short in foster care services

Sixty percent of children in foster care don't get visited by their caseworker every month — and 17 percent of them didn't get visited at all last year, according to a survey of foster parents released Thursday.

The survey, believed to be the first of its kind, stemmed from a 2004 lawsuit settlement requiring the state Department of Social and Health Services to improve its care of foster children. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of foster children who had been bounced from home to home, who had been placed in inappropriate settings and who hadn't gotten required services.

The phone survey of 1,200 caregivers revealed that while DSHS has made progress, it still falls short of its court-mandated benchmarks in a number of ways, based on the views of its own foster parents.

Thursday morning, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit announced that in November they plan to ask a judge to order the agency into compliance.

That would renew litigation in the case and reopens the possibility that a judge could hold state officials in contempt for failing to live up to the agreement, or that a judge could yank control of the foster-care system from DSHS.

Cheryl Stephani, assistant secretary of the Children's Administration (which is part of DSHS), on the other hand, touted the positive findings of the survey, including the widespread satisfaction among foster parents with the way they're trained and treated.

"[The survey] is a groundbreaking opportunity for us to really figure out how well we're doing supporting our foster parents because in the end that really means how well we're doing in supporting our children," Stephani said.

In addition, she said, the results show the state is meeting the settlement benchmarks in five out of eight areas covered by the survey.

More than 86 percent of caregivers said they received adequate training, and nearly 75 percent said they received adequate support and information from the state, and that any medically fragile children in their care received appropriate medical assistance.

Foster parents, however, said the state failed to ensure there were protective measures in place for most sexually aggressive or physically assaultive children in their care.

Changing that statistic is among Stephani's first priorities. She also said the agency has been working on improving the frequency of face-to-face visits, but it will take an additional 1 ½ years before enough new caseworkers are hired.

The lawsuit settlement, known as the Braam settlement, required caseworkers to make monthly visits to foster children in 70 percent of cases.

"[The survey has] clearly pointed out some areas that are in desperate need of reform, like visits to kids, like sibling continuity, like sexually aggressive youth issues, visits by caseworkers," said Casey Trupin, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. "Those are the things that nobody can argue with are in a disastrous state right now."

Although it wasn't related to the benchmarks, the survey takers noted that of 3,800 caregiver phone numbers included in the random sample, nearly 1,000 were disconnected.

However, researchers at Washington State University, which conducted the survey, said they were impressed that so many participated in the lengthy survey. The number of respondents made the data reliable, the researchers said.

"We now have an independent survey that validates a positive and strong partnership we have with foster parents and relative caregivers," Stephani said. "The results also tell us where we can improve."

Seattle Times staff reporter Jonathan Martin contributed to this story.

Maureen O'Hagan: 206-464-2562 or mohagan@seattletimes.com