State to pay $2.4 million to settle trial
Jurors agree Alaska had debt to teens in foster care case
ANCHORAGE - The state of Alaska will pay $2.4 million to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of two teens who were abused and neglected in state foster care, ending a trial about to enter a second week.
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The settlement comes after testimony that scrutinized the old Division of Family and Youth Services. An assistant attorney general acknowledged Monday that the boys had been harmed. The boys in 1999 saw their foster mother kill another child, then were made to lie about it.
The $2.4 million is in addition to $850,000 paid by the state to the family of the dead child.
The money agreed to Monday is not enough to make things right for the boys, their lawyers said. The boys' ability to hold jobs and live on their own is questionable, they said.
But advocates for the teens, now 17 and 18 and still in state custody, agreed to accept the money because the state threatened to tie up a jury award with years of appeals, said Ken Friedman, an attorney based in Bremerton, Wash.
"Frankly they can't wait years. They are about to turn 18 and 19 and they need the money to get on with their lives," Friedman said.
Over the boys' lives, the state received about 40 reports of abuse or neglect. Almost all were mishandled, said Christine Schleuss, another attorney for the boys.
Jurors leaving after being briefed on the settlement agreed that the state had a debt to the teens.
"I might have given them more," said Kevin Sheridan, one of the jurors.
The system obviously broke down, said juror Anthony Adams, a production manager on the North Slope. "I think the plaintiffs proved their case."
Anchorage Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason approved the settlement, which will be paid in two weeks.
The case was brought by the guardians ad litem for the needs identified as A.J. and D.D. Their advocates sought $10 million for each boy.
Several jurors said $10 million was probably too much but that the settlement sounded fair. Juror Brent Veltkamp, an environmental consultant, noted that they had not heard the state case and said the state should not be responsible for the hurt inflicted by the boys' own families.
Jurors heard reports that the families were dysfunctional from drug and alcohol abuse.
The state Office of Children's Services still does not have enough caseworkers to check out reports of troubled families and to monitor foster homes, said Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage.
"State government is in complete denial about how messed up the foster care system is," Gara said.