Stark realities of foster "care"

10/29/2010
Stark realities of foster "care" revealed by federal judge in Nevada
California's Children

The Oakland-based National Center for Youth Law was the loser in federal court in Las Vegas on Thursday when US District Judge Robert C. Jones dismissed a class-action lawsuit against the Nevada Dept. of Health and Human Service's director, Michael Willden; Clark County manager, Virginia Valentine; and county Dept. of Family Services director, Tom Morton, at left. The lawsuit sought class action status for three subgroups among the county's 3,600 foster children and monetary damages for the 13 foster children named as plaintiffs.

Responding to the complaints, the Judge Jones's 31-page ruling noted [emphases ours]:

In his decision, Jones ruled that the defendants had "qualified immunity" from most of the claims in the lawsuit. Under federal law, government officials have such immunity if their actions did not violate "clearly established" constitutional rights.¹

The lawsuit alleged the officials did not provide adequate medical, dental and mental health care for foster children. Jones wrote that the state is required only to provide "basic human needs" to children under its care and that anything else beyond that was not a "clearly established" right.²

The lawsuit also alleged the county and state acted with "deliberate indifference" to obvious dangers when they placed children in dangerous foster homes. But under federal law, Jones ruled, officials cannot be held liable unless their actions created or increased the danger for the children, not merely exposed them to dangers that already existed....³.  FULL STORY

1- Oh they are clearly established alright.  This judge doesn't think American kids have any rights other than their "Best Interest right".

2- So exactly WHAT "standards" are real parents held to?

3- This is a "justice" system?

Perhaps judge Jones didn't get the directive-

U.S. Department of Justice challenges state Chief Justices to fix access to justice systemic deficiencies
National Defender Leadership Institute

On July 26, 2010, Laurence Tribe, Senior Counsel for the United States Department of Justice, Access to Justice Initiative, delivered an important speech to the Conference of Chief Justices, challenging them to halt the disintegration of our state justice systems before they become indistinguishable from courts of third world nations.