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More information Visit our Katie A. v. Bonta page for more information on the case

Katie A. Plaintiffs--Case Examples

“Charlie” Is Still Waiting

The boy we call Charlie had been abused for years by his mother, who had a drug addiction and who often left him in the care of other addicts for days at a time. His grandmother, Judy Lowe, rescued him and became Charlie’s legal guardian, but the experience left him with severe emotional disorders. By the time he was 6 years old, Ms. Lowe, could no longer care for him. She made the “heartbreaking decision” to send him to foster care.

For the next year, Charlie bounced back and forth between a series of foster homes and Ms. Lowe’s, ending up in Metropolitan State Hospital, which even state officials describe as “the end of the line.” After two more years, a court-appointed expert recommended his placement in a therapeutic foster home with wraparound services. But it never happened. Instead, for the past five years, Charlie has been shunted from one residential placement to another, each more restrictive, expensive and abusive than the last, and finally back to Metropolitan.

“I now believe,” Ms. Lowe says in a declaration for the Katie A. plaintiffs, “that therapeutic foster care and wraparound could have saved Charlie from a lost childhood scarred by bad experiences and rejection.” Ms. Lowe lives in San Bernardino and is willing to tell Charlie’s story (but not his real name) to media; contact Melinda Bird to arrange an interview at (213) 427-8757 x 3006 or melinda@pai-ca.org.

How Wraparound Changed Casey’s Life--And His Family’s

Casey has always enjoyed a close relationship with his mother, Carol, and younger sister, Annie. But his social and behavioral problems isolated them from friends and other branches of the family. By the time Casey was 15, Annie was so frightened of her brother’s behavior that she suffered from chronic stomachaches and Carol was getting written up at work for excessive absenteeism. Casey’s therapist and teacher both told Carol that her only alternative was to have her son placed in residential treatment. Then the principal of Casey’s school told Carol about a new program called Wraparound Sacramento that might be worth a try.

Wraparound staff joined with Casey, Carol, Annie and Casey’s mental health social worker to create a Child and Family Team. The team met once a week in the family’s home to acknowledge each member’s strengths, address concerns, identify goals and devise action plans. Intense staff support during the first months enabled Carol to sleep at night, get back on track at work and get Casey in a school program better suited to him. With coaching from staff, Casey began being able to solve problems, his hygiene and social skills improved, and his mother learned how to give consequences without power struggles. Over time, other key people joined the team, including some at Casey’s school.

Casey’s, Annie’s and Carol’s relationship with each other has been transformed by learning to focus on each others’ strengths. “It took me a long time to warm up to the process,” says Carol, “but staff was patient and encouraging. The first meeting drove me crazy because they wouldn’t let me complain and be negative. I didn’t see how anything else could help, but the strength-based stuff helped the most. We feel safer and more normal now, not worried or scared all the time.” Casey says that without Wraparound Sacramento he would be “either locked up in a hospital or juvenile hall.” Instead, two years after graduating from wraparound, Casey attends a local community college, his mother has bought a home and is active on county task forces related to mental health, and Annie proudly introduces her friends to her big brother.

A Therapeutic Foster Parent Needs Support Too

Dianne Magnatta received some training by Humboldt County in order to be approved for a therapeutic foster care license, but found it inadequate “to meet the high-level special needs of the foster children who have lived with me.” On her own she attended trainings focused on techniques for working with children with attachment disorder, which she found “invaluable because they have given me practical ways of managing the behaviors that are typical of children who have grown up without developing health attachments.” She also received training in wraparound.

Josh came to live with Ms. Magnatta when he was 7. She was his ninth foster placement. Three years later, she learned that wraparound would be available. For a year and a half, Josh received wraparound services, with a therapeutic behavioral assistant, an educational aide and an occupational therapist. The team held weekly meetings and Ms. Magnatta had respite time to attend workshops and training. “The wraparound services provided to Josh gave me the energy to keep going,” she said. But then wraparound ended and the boy’s behavior “began to deteriorate.” When Josh’s plan became outdated, Ms. Magnatta tried to prepare a new one “to jumpstart the process,” but couldn’t get the county agency to sign off in it. “Without services or support, I felt I could not take care of Josh,” and he was placed with a male foster parent. “He is not doing well at all,” Ms. Magnatta reported; “it would not surprise me if Josh ended up in an institutionalized setting some time soon. It makes no sense that we let our children hit rock bottom,” she added, before intervening with appropriate care.