Alabama and Contempt for
Settlement Decrees

In the long-running lawsuit known as RC Alabama has not broken any speed records, but it is apparently making progress in living up to its pledge to improve child welfare services across the state. Not so in another equally important lawsuit baring consequences of contempt of court. To date, 34 of Alabama's 67 counties have met staffing and caseload standards, and have adopted the practices outlined in the R.C. lawsuit. By early October, even trouble-prone Jefferson County may finally pass muster, the state optimistically claims. Never mind that the entire process was supposed to be finished statewide two years ago. Given the state's other problems, any progress is welcome, even progress that is long overdue. It's not a second too soon for abused and neglected children, who too often in the past had their troubles multipled, not mitigated, by the state Department of Human Resources. A 1988 lawsuit charged that Human Resources didn't offer appropriate or helpful services, instead just yanked children from troubled homes and sent them on an endless journey of short-term living arrangements some of them wildly inappropriate. The suit's namesake, known only by his initials, was only one of many children who were harmed. Rather than have the children's heartbreaking stories aired in court, Human Resources agreed in 1991 to settle the lawsuit and improve its services. But R.C. is a goal worth meeting. Sometimes, it's taken a firm push from U.S. District Judge Ira DeMent to remind the Department of Human Resources of that. The state has at times walked a dangerous line and barely skirted contempt citations. With the last close call, this past April, the department again made commitments to finish what it started a decade ago.

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