Foster kids earn court victory

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — In a decision that could force the state to pay back millions of dollars to orphans and disabled children, the Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state can’t seize the Social Security benefits of foster children to pay for their care.

The ruling upholds Okanogan County Superior Judge Jack Burchard, who ordered the Department of Social and Health Services in 1999 to stop the practice and devise a way to return the money.

The department collects about $615,000 each month in foster children’s Social Security benefits under a law that mandates lessening the state’s cost of foster care. The money helps the state compensate foster parents for providing such needs as food, clothing, shelter and medical care.

Most, if not all, states use foster children’s Social Security benefits in similar ways, said Kathy Spears, a DSHS spokeswoman.

But Washington’s high court ruled the practice violates a federal law that protects Social Security payments from creditors. The U.S. Supreme Court has also prohibited states from seizing the money from prison inmates and welfare recipients.

"However worthy cost recovery might be, DSHS cannot violate federal law at the expense of foster children to accomplish it," Justice Richard Sanders wrote for the majority in the 5-3 ruling.

The practice was challenged on behalf of about 10,000 current and former foster children.

"Why would the state ever think they could have taken the Social Security benefit of an orphan?" said Rodney Reinbold, the attorney who represented the plaintiffs. "It was just shocking that they could even think they could get away with such a thing."

A child who spent 10 years in foster care and received $500 a month in benefits would stand to recover $60,000, Reinbold said.

The exact amount of money and number of foster children involved aren’t known, Reinbold said. He estimates the total at between $5 million and $10 million.

Part of Burchard’s original ruling ordered the state to produce records of how much it has received in foster children’s benefits.

DSHS said it was considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"If this ruling stands, there could be $7 million less each year for thousands of children who rely on the state for their basic needs," Spears said.

The lawsuit was originally brought on behalf of Dan Keffeler, an orphaned child in Omak. Keffeler’s grandmother had been appointed guardian of his estate and designated to receive his Social Security payments.

But she fought a running battle with DSHS for year, with control changing hands several times until she was finally reinstated, Keffeler said Thursday from Ellensburg, where he is a student at Central Washington University.

Keffeler, now 23, was orphaned at 12 and spent the rest of his youth in half a dozen foster homes. The money his grandmother was able to save helped pay his way through college, he said.

As a child, the money paid for things such as football shoes that his foster parents often wouldn’t buy.

"Some homes were good, others were far from it," Keffeler said. "I lived in homes where they used foster care as an income."

Reserving the money for the children will help kids who often have nowhere to turn to when they leave foster care at 18, Keffeler said

"Money’s always an issue," Keffeler said. "This will give financial opportunity to foster youth who could use that money to go on to school."

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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