Filed Date: Jan. 1, 1988
Case Ongoing
Clearinghouse coding complete
The ACLU filed this class action lawsuit in 1988 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the state of Illinois, on behalf of all children in the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) placed somewhere other than with their parents. The plaintiffs sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Adoption Assistance Welfare Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 620-28, 670-76.
The class consisted of all children who had been or would be in the custody of DCFS, and children who had been or would be placed somewhere other than with their parents. The ACLU, the Office of the Public Guardian, and private counsel represented the class. The plaintiffs asked the court to grant injunctive relief, alleging that the policies and practices of DCFS violated substantive due process, equal protection, and procedural due process as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, violated provisions of the AAA, and violated state statutory provisions. More specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that DCFS policies and practices had resulted in mental and physical damage to the plaintiffs, because DCFS failed to place them in safe, stable homes in a suitable time and manner.
The plaintiffs alleged that while children were in DCFS custody (because of abuse or neglect by their custodians), DCFS failed to provide adequate food, shelter, clothing, health care, protection from harm, and education to the children. The various homes, shelters, and institutions in which the children were housed did not offer adequate educational opportunities, and the behavior of the children was controlled by physical discipline. Placement in these institutions caused damage to the physical and emotional well being of the children. In one DCFS shelter an eight year-old girl was raped by two twelve year-old boys. DCFS caseworkers were assigned too many cases to allow them to competently perform their duties and as a result did not follow-up on the cases that they were assigned. Children faked suicide attempts and slit their wrists to get the attention of the DCFS worker in charge of their case. DCFS failed to provide funding and services that were essential to the care of children in its custody. Additionally, DCFS failed to ensure that necessary services to reunite families were in place.
The court declined to dismiss the case. B.H. v. Johnson, 715 F. Supp. 1387 (N.D. Ill. 1989).
The parties entered a consent decree in 1991, under which DCFS promised to hire additional employees to investigate child abuse and check on children in state custody. At the request of both sides, the Court appointed a Monitor to oversee the process and provide reports on the defendant's progress towards implementing the provisions of the decree.
The Office of the Public Guardian, which acted as guardian ad litem for many children in DCFS custody, sought to intervene. The District Court (Judge John Francis Grady) repeatedly denied the motions to intervene. On January 14, 1993, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit (Judge Richard Dickson Cudahy) affirmed the District Court's decision. B.H. v. Murphy, 984 F.2d 196 (7th Cir. 1993), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 960 (1993).
In 1994, the Monitor filed a report with the Court stating that DCFS had complied with less than half of the 93 reforms stipulated in the consent decree. Press coverage of the Monitor's reports, public interest in the court-held status conferences, and attention from gubernatorial campaigns created an adversarial stalemate between the parties. As a result, the District Court held that the public did not have a right of access to status conferences between the parties. B.H. v. Ryder, 856 F. Supp. 1285 (N.D. Ill. 1994).
The parties then agreed to new strategies to implement the goals of the consent decree. A research center at the University of Illinois replaced the court monitor in providing regular reports on the defendant's progress. Additionally, the parties identified strategies to address the most serious non-compliance issues. The parties filed a Restated Consent Decree reflecting these modifications in 1997.
By July 2001, DCFS achieved substantial compliance with the original consent decree. Because of plaintiffs' on-going concerns about inadequate case workers and services, though, the parties negotiated a joint modification of the consent decree, approved by the Court in February 2003.
Defendants continued to struggle with addressing children's educational outcomes and access to mental health services as of a September 2005 court-held status conference. The Illinois legislature had proposed cuts in funding for DCFS in 2009, but the Court ordered the defendants to continue complying with the consent decree regardless of funding cuts.
Plaintiffs complained in 2012 to DCFS that its investigator caseloads were still substantially out of compliance with the consent decree. The parties negotiated an implementation plan in August 2012 to address the compliance issue regarding investigation caseloads, signed into effect on August 14, 2012.
Litigation resumed in February 2015 when plaintiffs alleged that DCFS was again failing to meet the requirements of the consent decree. The parties then nominated experts for the Court to approve in investigating how DCFS can improve its services and placements to the plaintiffs. On October 20, 2015, following the Court-ordered experts' report, Judge Alonso approved the recommendations. On September 28, 2016, Judge Alonso ordered the execution of an ongoing communication plan between DCFS and the experts and entered the Amended and Revised DCFS Implementation Plan incorporating the experts' recommendations and the new communication plan.
According to the early expert reports, DCFS made significant improvements at first, but later reports indicated that these improvements subsequently slowed and the defendant failed to comply with information requests. On December 7, 2017, the plaintiffs filed a motion to enforce the provision to limit the investigator's workload in the decree, alleging that the number of cases per caseworker was far exceeding the standard in the amended decree. Judge Alonso denied this motion on September 20, 2018.
In a further attempt to force the defendant to comply, the plaintiffs filed an emergency motion to enforce the decree and require DCFS to address the safety concerns of youth hospitalized in Chicago Lakeshore Hospital. On November 21, 2018, Judge Alonso partly granted the motion and ordered injunctive relief.
Throughout much of 2018, the parties litigated over the defendant's alleged failure to share information according to the consent decree. The plaintiff filed a motion to enforce the relevant part of the decree on February 7, 2018. Although this motion was denied on June 8, 2018, 2018 WL 3022676, the parties later came to an agreement on information sharing. Judge Alonso appointed a special master on January 10, 2019. The parties came to an additional agreement regarding placement of youth in DCFS custody on May 24, 2019.
As of May 2020, the monitoring is still ongoing.
Summary Authors
Elizabeth Homan (10/29/2012)
Virginia Weeks (10/29/2016)
Chiaki Nojiri (3/29/2019)
Alex Moody (5/26/2020)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7194613/parties/bh-v-johnson/
Alonso, Jorge Luis (Illinois)
Cudahy, Richard Dickson (Illinois)
Grady, John Francis (Illinois)
Brody, Michael L. (Illinois)
Dalenberg, Heidi (Illinois)
Gomez, Danielle Renee (Illinois)
Grippando, Thomas J. (Illinois)
Grossman, Harvey (Illinois)
Lippitz, Bradley H.W. (Illinois)
Mena, Yvonne E. (Illinois)
Alonso, Jorge Luis (Illinois)
Cudahy, Richard Dickson (Illinois)
Grady, John Francis (Illinois)
Brody, Michael L. (Illinois)
Dalenberg, Heidi (Illinois)
Gomez, Danielle Renee (Illinois)
Grippando, Thomas J. (Illinois)
Grossman, Harvey (Illinois)
Lippitz, Bradley H.W. (Illinois)
Mena, Yvonne E. (Illinois)
Murphy, Patrick Thomas (Illinois)
Nowaczewski, Jeanne L. (Illinois)
Peters, Charles H. R. (Illinois)
Rammer, Thomas Arthur II (Illinois)
Stewart, Claire E.W. (Illinois)
Turner, Lori Nicole (Illinois)
Wolf, Benjamin S. (Illinois)
Baer, Kimberley K. (Iowa)
Getzendanner, Susan Christine O'Meara (Illinois)
Golbert, Charles P. (Illinois)
Greenspan, Barbara Lynn (Illinois)
Kenney, Mary Brigid (Illinois)
Lowder, Lee A. (Illinois)
Madigan, Lisa (Illinois)
McEwen, Erwin (Illinois)
Rascia, Ronald Anthony (Illinois)
Smith, Charles F. Jr. (Illinois)
Tchen, Christina M. (Illinois)
Wiegand, Thomas J. (Illinois)
Brown, Geraldine Soat (Illinois)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7194613/bh-v-johnson/
Last updated June 4, 2023, 3:01 a.m.
State / Territory: Illinois
Case Type(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1988
Case Ongoing: Yes
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
All children in the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and will be placed somewhere other than with their parents.
Plaintiff Type(s):
Attorney Organizations:
Public Interest Lawyer: Yes
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: Yes
Class Action Outcome: Granted
Defendants
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (AACWA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 620 et seq.
Adoption Assistance Program, 42 U.S.C. §§ 670 et seq.
Constitutional Clause(s):
Available Documents:
Injunctive (or Injunctive-like) Relief
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Plaintiff
Nature of Relief:
Injunction / Injunctive-like Settlement
Source of Relief:
Form of Settlement:
Court Approved Settlement or Consent Decree
Order Duration: 1991 - None
Content of Injunction:
Other requirements regarding hiring, promotion, retention
Implement complaint/dispute resolution process
Goals (e.g., for hiring, admissions)
Issues
General:
Access to public accommodations - governmental
Assault/abuse by residents/inmates/students
Food service / nutrition / hydration
Foster care (benefits, training)
Parents (visitation, involvement)
Placement in detention facilities
Placement in mental health facilities
Public benefits (includes, e.g., in-state tuition, govt. jobs)
Sanitation / living conditions
Sexual abuse by residents/inmates
Siblings (visitation, placement)
Staff (number, training, qualifications, wages)
Crowding:
Mental Disability:
Medical/Mental Health:
Mental health care, unspecified
Benefit Source: