Foster-care abuse costs state

OLYMPIA – The state has agreed to pay $1.52 million to two brothers who were sexually abused in foster care.

Bellingham lawyer Tim Farris reported the settlement Thursday, and the state attorney general’s office confirmed it.

The brothers’ lawsuit alleged that the state Department of Social and Health Services placed them in a Whatcom County foster home after another child had reported being raped there. The boys lived there for three years and were repeatedly sexually abused by their foster father, who was later convicted of sexual assault.

One boy was moved 87 times and another was moved 50 times to different homes in the foster care system. Neither graduated from high school, Farris said; one is homeless and the other is nearly homeless.

Each will receive about $2,300 a month from the settlement, Farris said.

In a separate case in Skagit County, four children who went through multiple placements in foster care have settled their lawsuit with the state for $500,000, Farris said. However, that settlement has not yet gotten final approval from the court.

The issue of foster children bouncing from home to home was one focus of the class-action Braam case, in which Farris represented a group of foster children. In that case, the state agreed to pay $1.3 million and also to enact sweeping reforms of the system.

However, Farris and other lawyers who worked on that case say they’re worried the Legislature isn’t dedicating enough money toward making those changes. State child welfare officials say the reforms will cost about $50 million, but the budget plans so far have proposed much less.

“These settlements ought to send a clear message to the Legislature that if it doesn’t provide funding to stop the practice of multiple placements and mistreatment, that children have the right to sue and they will sue for damages,” Farris said. “It is pay now or pay later.”

DSHS declined to comment on the settlement.