A years-long effort to overhaul the state's foster-care system, making home placements more stable for children and keeping caseloads manageable for social workers, will be completed in just over two years.

Under an agreement signed Monday, the state will have a far different child-welfare system in place by the end of 2013 than it did when a class-action lawsuit on behalf of foster children was filed in 1998.

The case, known by state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) officials as Braam, is named after plaintiff Jessica Braam, who had been bounced through 34 foster-care placements by the time she was 12 years old. Her story became emblematic of problems that plagued the foster-care system overseen by the DSHS.

"This really is a win for children in the foster-care system," said Denise Revels Robinson, head of the state Children's Administration, which oversees foster care. "Children will be visited; more brothers and sisters will be placed together. We will have a continued focus on keeping children safe in out-of-home care."

About 9,000 children are in Washington's foster-care system, the state says.

The lawsuit was filed in Whatcom County on behalf of 13 children who cumulatively had been moved 208 times. A settlement was first reached in 2004, and foster-care changes were supposed to be instituted by July. But a three-month extension, expiring on Monday, was granted by the court.

A second extension, for 26 months, was agreed to by DSHS officials, the Attorney General's Office and lawyers involved in the case.

The changes include safeguards protecting children from being shuffled from foster home to foster home, timely medical and mental-health screenings, and requirements that caseworkers visit every month. The settlement also requires that each caseworker oversee no more than 18 children.

Casey Trupin, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, said the state hasn't moved as swiftly as some would like. In 2008, the plaintiffs took the state back to court after it repeatedly failed to uphold its end of the settlement.

On Monday, DSHS Secretary Susan Dreyfus defended the time frame and said other states typically spend far longer entwined in class-action litigation. Dreyfus called Monday's agreement a "model exit strategy."

"There's no question the Braam settlement will improve our state's public child-welfare system," she said. "There are a lot of good things in this child-welfare system that need to get recognized."

Trupin said he's confident the state is on track to meet the settlement requirements.

Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com