Reforming Arizona Foster Care: The B.K. v. Faust Settlement
Discover how a federal lawsuit settlement aims to reform Arizona foster care.
The Promise of Protection: A System on Trial
When a state government removes a child from their home due to allegations of abuse or neglect, it assumes a profound constitutional and moral obligation. The state essentially steps into the role of the parent, becoming legally bound to provide safe housing, adequate medical care, and continuous protection from further harm. For years, legal advocates and civil rights groups argued that the State of Arizona had egregiously failed to uphold this foundational promise. The culmination of these widespread grievances resulted in a sweeping federal class-action lawsuit, originally filed as B.K. v. McKay and later known in legal dockets as B.K. v. Faust.
After more than five years of intense, high-stakes litigation, a federal judge tentatively approved a landmark settlement agreement in the fall of 2020. This historic accord between the plaintiffs—represented by national child advocacy groups and private law firms—and the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) marked a critical inflection point for child welfare reform in the United States. The tentative settlement effectively averted a lengthy and unpredictable federal trial, replacing courtroom battles with a legally binding roadmap designed to overhaul the state’s foster care infrastructure.
For the thousands of vulnerable children navigating the complexities of out-of-home care, this settlement is not just a bureaucratic compromise; it represents a tangible lifeline. It mandates systemic changes targeting the root causes of institutional failure, from severe caseworker burnout to the chronic over-reliance on institutional group homes. Understanding the depth and breadth of this tentative settlement requires a close examination of the crisis that triggered the litigation, the rigorous legal arguments presented, and the comprehensive pillars of reform that the state is now legally obligated to implement.
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The Genesis of the Crisis: Understanding the 2015 Lawsuit
To fully appreciate the magnitude of the tentative settlement, one must look back at the harrowing conditions that prompted the lawsuit in 2015. At that time, the Arizona child welfare system was widely recognized as being in a state of critical emergency. A staggering backlog of thousands of uninvestigated child abuse reports had surfaced, drawing intense media scrutiny, public outrage, and demands for immediate legislative intervention. The system was so deeply fractured that it necessitated a complete administrative reorganization, eventually leading to the creation of the standalone Department of Child Safety.
However, bureaucratic restructuring alone could not immediately solve the deeply entrenched, systemic issues affecting the children already languishing in state custody. In February 2015, a coalition of legal advocates, including the national organization Children’s Rights, the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, and the law firm Perkins Coie, filed a comprehensive federal class-action complaint. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of all children in the state’s foster care system, representing a highly vulnerable demographic that numbered in the tens of thousands over the course of the multi-year litigation.
The civil complaint painted a grim picture of a system collapsing under its own weight. Plaintiffs alleged that children were routinely forced to sleep in DCS administrative offices for consecutive nights because there were simply no licensed foster homes available to accommodate them. Furthermore, the lawsuit highlighted that traumatized youth were being systematically denied essential physical, dental, and mental health services. Instead of finding safety and stability, children in the state’s care were frequently subjected to additional trauma, bouncing between emergency shelters, group facilities, and temporary placements. The advocates argued that these widespread failures constituted a violation of the children’s substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, asserting that the state was displaying a deliberate indifference to their overall safety and well-being.
Unpacking the Systemic Failures Litigated in Federal Court
The foundation of the B.K. v. Faust lawsuit rested on exposing the interconnected institutional failures that permeated the Arizona foster care system. The litigation painstakingly documented how a severe lack of resources, combined with poor administrative oversight, created an environment where harm was not an isolated anomaly, but a predictable and repeated outcome.
One of the most pressing issues litigated was the rampant overuse of congregate care, commonly known as group homes. Child welfare research overwhelmingly demonstrates that children thrive best in family-like environments, yet Arizona was heavily reliant on large institutional facilities to house its foster youth. Plaintiffs demonstrated that children placed in group homes were isolated from their communities, deprived of normalized childhood experiences, and subjected to highly restrictive, impersonal environments. Additionally, because of the sheer scarcity of family placements, siblings were frequently torn apart, placed in separate facilities across the state, fundamentally eroding their most crucial familial support networks.
Equally alarming to the legal team was the chronic failure of the state to provide basic and specialized healthcare. Children entering foster care represent one of the most medically and psychologically vulnerable demographics in society. A significant portion of this population suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic anxiety, and severe emotional disturbances stemming from their initial abuse or the inherent trauma of family separation. Despite this reality, the lawsuit alleged that thousands of children went without comprehensive physical exams, routine dental care, and the sustained behavioral health therapies they desperately needed to process their grief and trauma.
The Turning Tide: Reaching a Tentative Agreement
The long path to the tentative settlement was paved with significant, hard-fought legal victories for the plaintiffs. A pivotal moment occurred in 2019 when the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision to certify the case as a class action. By validating the class certification, the appellate court acknowledged that the systemic deficiencies alleged by the plaintiffs were pervasive enough to warrant collective legal action, rather than requiring thousands of individual, traumatized children to file their own separate lawsuits against the state.
Faced with the prospect of a highly publicized, grueling federal trial—and the very real possibility of a court-mandated federal receivership taking over the state’s daily operations—state officials engaged in intensive, mediated settlement negotiations. In October 2020, both parties jointly presented a comprehensive settlement agreement to U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver for review.
The court’s preliminary approval of this agreement was a true watershed moment in Arizona’s legal history. In class-action litigation, a tentative or preliminary settlement approval means the presiding judge has thoroughly reviewed the proposed terms and found them to be fair, reasonable, and adequate to address the class members’ claims. This crucial step triggers a formal notification process, informing the affected children, their biological families, foster parents, and legal guardians about the proposed policy changes and offering them an opportunity to comment before the court grants final, binding approval.
Pillars of the Settlement: Charting a Path to Reform
The tentative settlement serves as a sweeping, multi-tiered blueprint designed to systematically dismantle the administrative failures of the past decade. It establishes rigorous, enforceable benchmarks that the state must meet, fundamentally shifting DCS operations from a model of reactive crisis management to one of proactive child well-being. The mandated reforms are categorized into several non-negotiable pillars:
- Expanding Healthcare Access and Tracking: The agreement mandates a complete overhaul of how the state delivers medical, dental, and behavioral health services. DCS must ensure that children receive comprehensive physical and dental checkups within strict timeframes (such as within 30 days of entering state custody). The settlement requires the implementation of a robust, data-driven tracking system to monitor healthcare delivery and demands rapid access to trauma-informed behavioral therapies.
- Curtailing the Overuse of Congregate Care: Recognizing the deeply detrimental impact of institutionalization, the settlement places strict, enforceable limits on the placement of children in group homes. The state is legally obligated to drastically increase the recruitment, licensing, and retention of traditional family foster homes and therapeutic foster families.
- Mandating Sustainable Caseloads: To ensure that no child falls through the administrative cracks, the settlement imposes rigid caps on caseworker workloads. By establishing strict numerical ratios, the agreement ensures that case managers have the adequate time and resources necessary to investigate safety concerns, facilitate sibling visitations, and actively work toward permanent family reunification.
- Rigorous Accountability and Court Monitoring: The enforcement mechanism is the backbone of the settlement. The state is subject to continuous, objective monitoring by an independent, court-appointed team. DCS is required to produce transparent performance scorecards detailing their progress. Failure to meet these targeted goals empowers the plaintiffs to return to federal court to seek further remedial orders.
The Importance of Trauma-Informed Care in the Agreement
A significant, yet sometimes overlooked, aspect of the tentative settlement is its underlying, explicit commitment to trauma-informed care. Historically, child welfare agencies across the nation have operated with a compliance-based mindset, focusing primarily on securing basic physical safety and shelter. However, modern psychological and pediatric research unequivocally shows that the trauma of severe abuse, compounded by the profound trauma of being abruptly removed from a biological family, fundamentally alters a child’s neurological and emotional development.
The B.K. v. Faust settlement formally integrates this modern scientific understanding into mandatory state policy. By requiring rapid access to specialized behavioral health assessments and targeted therapeutic interventions, the agreement acknowledges that true child safety encompasses emotional and psychological healing just as much as physical security. This paradigm shift from a purely punitive or custodial model to a comprehensive therapeutic framework is absolutely essential for breaking the generational cycles of abuse, neglect, and poverty.
Examining the Broader Impact on National Child Welfare Reform
The legal and administrative ramifications of the B.K. v. Faust tentative settlement extend far beyond Arizona’s desert borders. Child welfare systems across the United States frequently grapple with the exact same systemic deficiencies: chronic underfunding, soaring caseworker turnover, and a severe lack of adequate mental health infrastructure. Federal class-action lawsuits continue to serve as one of the most potent mechanisms for civil rights advocates to force governmental accountability when internal state politics fail to yield results.
When state legislatures fail to proactively allocate the necessary financial resources to protect marginalized populations, the federal judiciary often becomes the venue of last resort for the voiceless. The Arizona settlement reinforces a crucial legal precedent: states have an affirmative, unavoidable constitutional obligation to protect the children in their custody from foreseeable harm. Furthermore, the structural design of the settlement—relying heavily on empirical data tracking, enforceable workload caps, and independent third-party oversight—provides a highly effective blueprint that child advocates in other jurisdictions can replicate to drive their own systemic reforms.
Looking Ahead: The Journey Toward Lasting Compliance
While the tentative approval of the settlement marked a profound legal victory, seasoned child welfare advocates understand that signing a consent decree is only the beginning of the reform journey. The true measure of success lies in the grueling, day-to-day execution of the agreement’s ambitious mandates. Transforming a massive, entrenched state bureaucracy requires sustained political will, significant financial investment from lawmakers, and relentless community partnership.
The state was granted a multi-year window, extending through the end of 2025, to achieve the rigorous statistical benchmarks outlined in the settlement. Building a robust, culturally responsive network of therapeutic foster homes takes immense time and effort. Recruiting and, more importantly, retaining dedicated social workers in a notoriously high-stress profession remains an ongoing, uphill battle. However, the legally binding nature of the settlement ensures that these logistical challenges cannot be used as permanent excuses for inaction. The continuous threat of judicial intervention provides the necessary leverage to keep state administrators focused on their constitutional duties to protect the innocent.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the B.K. v. Faust federal lawsuit?
B.K. v. Faust (originally filed in 2015 as B.K. v. McKay) is a landmark federal class-action lawsuit filed against the state of Arizona on behalf of all children in the state’s foster care system. The comprehensive lawsuit alleged that systemic failures, including a severe lack of mental health care access, the overuse of institutional group homes, and unmanageable caseworker workloads, violated the foster children’s constitutional rights and exposed them to an unreasonable risk of physical and emotional harm.
Who represented the children in this class-action lawsuit?
The class of affected children was represented by a powerful coalition of child welfare experts and civil rights advocates. The legal team included the national advocacy organization Children’s Rights, the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, and dedicated attorneys from the private international law firm Perkins Coie LLP.
What does a tentative settlement mean in a class action?
In the context of a class-action lawsuit, a tentative or preliminary settlement means that a federal judge has thoroughly reviewed the proposed agreement and determined that its terms appear fair, reasonable, and adequate. This preliminary approval initiates a required notification period where class members and relevant stakeholders are formally informed of the settlement terms and given the opportunity to object or comment before the court holds a final fairness hearing.
How does the settlement address the use of congregate care?
One of the core pillars of the 2020 settlement is a binding commitment by the state to drastically reduce its reliance on congregate care (institutional group homes). The state is legally required to invest heavily in recruiting and retaining family-like foster homes, ensuring that vulnerable youth are placed in nurturing environments that foster normalcy and community connection rather than isolation.
References
- Arizona agrees to boost care for foster kids to settle suit — Associated Press. 2020-10-14. https://apnews.com/article/phoenix-arizona-lawsuits-foster-care-b2959dd8c1e27a6e1335f6064d70ec9f
- B.K. v. Snyder, No. 17-17501 (9th Cir. 2019) — Justia Law / United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 2019-04-26. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/17-17501/17-17501-2019-04-26.html
- BK v. Faust – (Class Action Lawsuit) — Arizona Department of Child Safety. 2020-11-01. https://dcs.az.gov/news-reports/settlement
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