Another law firm has joined the National Center for Youth Law in its lawsuit against Utah's child-welfare system. And attorneys promise the case will move forward in the courts, despite the fact that Utah signed an agreement to settle the suit in 1994.
The center, which represents the class of 10,000 Utah children who have been the subject of abuse and neglect complaints and 2,100 children in foster care, contends Utah has not complied with that agreement. It intends to ask the federal court to order the state to comply, said center director John O'Toole.In at least two other states where compliance was ordered in similar cases, the courts appointed an independent administrator to run the child welfare system.
The Salt Lake firm of Jones, Waldo, Holbrook and McDonough serves as co-counsel with the center, which is based in San Francisco. Now Morrison and Foerster, described by O'Tooele as one of the leading international law firms and largest firms in the United States, has signed on to help on a pro bono - or free - basis.
O'Toole said Morrison and Foerster were asked to join the lawsuit because "We need help. The state is still not complying with the settlement. We need additional resources to make sure that the state complies fully with the terms of the settlement."
The Utah Attorney General's Office, which represents the child-welfare system, also has outside help. It recently hired the private law firm of Ray, Quinney and Nebeker to represent it.
Palmer DePaulis, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said the attorney general's staff was busy implementing the consent decree and recent child welfare reforms enacted by the legislature. So it decided to hire attorneys to litigate the case.
As part of the settlement agreement, the two sides created an independent monitoring panel to oversee compliance. The three-person monitoring panel has twice issued harshly critical reports that found major noncompliance with the terms of the agreement. Its third report is expected in the next two weeks.