BALTIMORE (AP) — Attorneys representing Baltimore’s foster children say the city’s social services department is illegally keeping children in offices overnight, 30 years after entering into a federal consent decree over treatment of foster children.
An ongoing class-action lawsuit led to a 1988 consent decree forbidding foster children from spending more than four hours in departmental offices.
But plaintiffs’ attorney Mitchell Mirviss tells The Baltimore Sun more than 100 children have been kept in unlicensed facilities beyond legal limits this year. Maryland Legal Aid’s Joan Little says she began hearing about the resurgence of overnight stays this summer.
In a statement, Social Services Director Stacy Rodgers said 6 percent of cases took longer than the allotted time to place.
Consent decree monitor Rhonda Lipkin says she’ll address the matter in a forthcoming report
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