Teen sues L.A. after decade in foster care

[cec]

Jul 18, 12:26 AM EDT
Teen sues L.A. after decade in foster care
(AP) -- A teenage girl reunited with her father last year after a decade in foster care is suing Los Angeles County for taking so long to bring them together.
County supervisors had said in September that the reunion of Melinda Smith, now 17, and father Thomas Marion Smith was the result of a "groundbreaking effort," and congratulated county agencies for locating the father.
But the lawsuit alleges that the Department of Children and Family Services failed to use "due diligence" to locate Thomas Smith. It claims the agency never notified Smith, who had continued making child support payments, that his daughter was in foster care and never gave him a chance to claim her.
"He's a registered voter with a valid driver's license and an open child support case," said Smith's attorney, L. Wallace Pate. "All they had to do, at any time during those 10 years, was pick up the phone and ask the L.A. County Child Support Services Department: `Do you have a contact on this man?'"
Beginning in 1989, Thomas Smith made child support payments to Melinda's mother for his 1-year-old daughter, but when Melinda was 4 her mother moved and left no forwarding address.
Two years later, Melinda was turned over to foster care officials after the county received complaints of abuse.
Smith's whereabouts were listed as unknown in court documents on the case, although records show that Melinda's caseworker knew Smith was paying child support and his address was on file with the agency that collected the payments.
Father and daughter were reunited in July 2005 after Melinda got help from a social worker assigned to find permanent placement for teens in foster care.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from the county, the social workers who handled the case and a private agency that provides attorneys for children in foster care.
County Supervisor Don Knabe blamed the problem on a communication breakdown between the Department of Children and Family Services and the Child Support Services Department. He planned to ask DCFS officials Tuesday to conduct an investigation and form a stronger partnership with the child support department.
"We must view this latest incident as a perfect example of why county agencies must work in collaboration and not in a vacuum," Knabe wrote in a motion to the Board of Supervisors.

[Betty Boop]

Who was the father paying child support to? The mother? The County? And, if he was such an attentive father, why wasn't he trying to see his daughter instead of just forwarding support to someone or some agency over the last 10 years?

Clearly, there are parts of this story that are not being reported.

[Woodmonkey]

Good points, Coleen. If the father, just once during those ten years, had tried to see his daughter, he would have found out that she was in foster care.

[BrianK]

And the lawsuit is because the teen wasn't fed, clothed, had schooling, was abused in the system and a miriad of other complaints that made her life in foster care a nightmare?

Typical reasoning sue the system because the father had no interest in the child he created. Shift the blame for no parental responsibility to where deep pockets via tax money will aid & comfort a lawyer.

[Woodmonkey]

Yes, Brian, and the father still gets to avoid responsibility.