Final Judgment by Federal Court Approves 2020 Settlement in Los Angeles Foster Youth Mental Health Case
By: National Health Law Program (NHeLP)
Los Angeles, CA – The United States District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division, has entered a judgment giving final approval to a 2020 settlement in the longstanding case Katie A. v. Los Angeles County. The class action lawsuit, filed in 2002, sought to improve the services available to children and young adults with mental health needs who are in foster care or who are at imminent risk of placement in foster care in Los Angeles County.
This is a victory for children and young people in Los Angeles.
“This judgment brings to a close the years of hard work to ensure Los Angeles County provides adequate intensive home and community-based mental health services to children and young adults in or at risk of entering foster care,” said Kim Lewis, Managing Attorney and Director of California Policy at the National Health Law Program. “Because of this lawsuit, the landscape of the County’s mental health services for children and families navigating the foster care system has improved dramatically over the last two decades. The settlement has changed for the better how the County delivers mental health and child welfare services, specifically the delivery of Intensive Home-Based Services and Intensive Care Coordination, which helps young people and their families or caregivers address their mental health condition and avoid out-of-home placement. This is a victory for children and young people in Los Angeles.”
Co-counsels include: Western Center on Law & Poverty, Disability Rights California, Bazelon Center for Mental Health, National Center for Youth Law, Public Counsel, and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.
