Kenny A v. Perdue

The Barton Center has no official role in the Kenny A v. Perdue litigation. We closely follow this case because it has brought about significant reforms in Georgia’s child welfare system. Information related to the consent decree for the state defendants comprised a substantial part of Georgia’s self-assessment for the 2007 Federal Child and Family Services Review, and practice and policy has changed throughout the state because of the benchmarks and infrastructure changes required by the consent decree.

The consent decrees with Fulton and DeKalb Counties have dramatically changed the way that deprived children are represented in court in those counties. An order issued during this case is the only one in the country where a federal judge has found that deprived children have a state statutory and state constitutional right to counsel in abuse and neglect proceedings. This case has been watched closely by legal scholars and practitioners around the country who are concerned about a child’s right to counsel.

The Barton Center did participate in one phase of the litigation—the Barton Center, as an independent member of Georgia’s child advocacy community, provided formal written comments and oral testimony at the Fairness Hearing held on the proposed settlement agreement with state defendants in 2005. The Barton Center requested that additional safety measures be added into the proposed settlement agreement and that some of the outcome measures be adjusted to provide more accurate information over time. The Barton Center’s requested changes were not included in the final consent decree.

General Information

• Quick Overview of Case (we recommend reading this first)
• List of Case Accountability Agents with Contact Information
• Barton Clinic March 2008 Summary of Status of State Defendants' Compliance with October 27, 2005 Kenny A v. Perdue Consent Decree
  • Table 1: Kenny A v. Perdue State Consent Decree Monitoring Measures
  • Table 2: Kenny A v. Perdue System Improvements with Deadlines
  • Table 3: Kenny A v. Perdue System Improvements without Deadlines or Benchmarks

Chronology (most recent events first)

NOTE: Additional events have occurred in this case since 2008, including that Fulton County and DeKalb County are both no longer under the jurisdiction of the court because they successfully completed the terms of their settlement agreements. Additional information and documents from 2008 to the present will be added to this page.

• 8/19/2008: Plaintiffs' Contempt Motion to U.S. District Court on Measures 9 and 10 of the State Consent Decree
  • PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR ORDER FOR DEFENDANTS TO SHOW CAUSE WHY THEY SHOULD NOT BE ADJUDGED IN CIVIL CONTEMPT AND SANCTIONED (92KB, 32 page PDF)
• 8/1/2008: Period II (1/1/2008 to 6/30/2008) Fulton County Compliance Report Released
  • Compliance Report from William G. Jones, Kenny A v. Perdue Compliance Agent for Fulton County (3.9MB, 251 page PDF)
• 7/22/2008: Period III (9/15/2007 to 3/15/2008) DeKalb County Child Advocacy Center Compliance Report Released
  • Compliance Report from Karen B. Baynes, Kenny A v. Perdue Compliance Agent for DeKalb County (1MB, 34 page PDF)
  • Full Report with Attachments (8.9MB, 361 page PDF)
• 7/3/2008: Plaintiff Attorneys' Fee Award Upheld
  • U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling (320K, 91 page PDF)
  • Article from Law.com - Judge Calls Lawyers Greedy but Panel Approves Fees
• 5/15/2008: Period IV (7/1/2007 to 12/31/2007) Monitoring Report Released
  • Report from James T. Dimas and Sarah A. Morrison, Kenny A v. Perdue Accountability Agents (1.2M, 159 page PDF)
• 1/11/2008: Period I (7/1/2007 to 12/31/2007) Fulton County Compliance Report Released
  • Compliance Report from William G. Jones, Kenny A v. Perdue Compliance Agent for Fulton County (0.25MB, 73 page PDF)
• 12/19/2007: Period II (3/14/2007 to 9/14/2007) DeKalb County Child Advocacy Center Compliance Report Released
  • Compliance Report from Karen B. Baynes, Kenny A v. Perdue Compliance Agent for DeKalb County (348KB, 41 page PDF)
• 12/17/2007: Period III (1/1/2007 to 6/30/2007) Monitoring Report Released
  • Report from James T. Dimas and Sarah A. Morrison, Kenny A v. Perdue Accountability Agents (1.3M, 170 page PDF)
• 9/18/2007: Foster Care Needs Assessment Released
  • Fulton/DeKalb Foster Care Needs Assessment (623K, 74 page PDF)
• 8/8/2007: Period I (9/13/2006 to 3/13/2007) DeKalb County Child Advocacy Center Compliance Report Released
  • Compliance Report from Karen B. Baynes, Kenny A v. Perdue Compliance Agent for DeKalb County (1.5MB, 23 page PDF)
• 6/25/2007: Fulton County Child Advocate Office Workload Study & Monitor's Interim Report Released
  • Interim Report from William G. Jones, Kenny A v. Perdue Compliance Agent for Fulton County (128KB, 25 page PDF)
  • Child Advocate Attorney Representation and Workload Study by Governmental Services Division, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia (1MB, 199 page PDF)
• 6/18/2007: Period II (7/1/2006 to 12/31/2006) Monitoring Report Released
  • Report from James T. Dimas and Sarah A. Morrison, Kenny A v. Perdue Accountability Agents (1.3M, 182 page PDF)
• 11/3/2006: Period I (10/27/2005 to 6/30/2006) Monitoring Report Released
  • Report from James T. Dimas and Sarah A. Morrison, Kenny A v. Perdue Accountability Agents (1M, 135 page PDF)
• 10/3/2006: Plaintiff Attorneys Awarded $11.3 Million in Fees
  • U.S. District Court Judgement (12K, 1 page PDF)
  • U.S. District Court Opinion (part 1) (1.2MB, 35 page PDF)
  • U.S. District Court Opinion (part 2) (2.1MB, 59 page PDF)
• 5/16/2006: Settlement Agreement with DeKalb County Defendants is Final
  • Barton Clinic Summary of DeKalb County Consent Decree
  • 3/23/2006: Proposed DeKalb County Consent Decree with Signatures
    • Notice to class
    • Appendix A -- Core Principles for Providing Quality Deprivation Representation through DCCAC Advocacy Delivery Systems
    • Appendix B -- DeKalb County Child Advocacy Center Performance Standards for Juvenile Advocacy Representation
    • Appendix C -- DeKalb County Child Advocacy Center Policies and Procedures
• 5/16/2006: Settlement Agreement with Fulton County Defendants is Final
  • Barton Clinic Summary of Fulton County Consent Decree
  • 2/14/2006: Proposed Fulton County Consent Decree with Signatures and Appendix
    • Notice to class
• 10/27/2005: The 7/5/2005 Settlement Agreement with DFCS Defendants is Final
  • Order for Final Approval of Consent Decree
• 9/21/2005: Fairness Hearing, Oral Comments to U.S. District Court
  • Karen Worthington's comments stressing safety concerns
  • Andy Barclay's comments answering plaintiffs' 9/19/2005 brief
  • Barton Clinic 10/3/2005 letter to the Court stressing safety concerns
• 9/19/2005: Joint (Plaintiff-State Defendant) Motion for Approval of Proposed Settlement
  • Joint Motion for Final Approval
  • Plaintiffs' Brief Submitted to the Court (132K, 32 page PDF)
    • page 16: Partial costs listed: State: $5M, Plaintiff: $1.8M
    • Responses to GAHSC comments:
      • page 19: Restrictions on Emergency Shelter Placements
      • page 20: Restrictions on Placements in Distant Group Homes and Institutions
      • page 21: Uniform Standards for Foster Care Providers
      • page 22: Objections to Specialized Case Managers
      • page 23: Reimbursement Rate Task Force
    • Responses to Barton Clinic comments:
      • page 23: Objections to Outcome Measures 4, 8 & 9
      • page 27: Criticism of Protection for Children Who Come to the Attention of DFCS, But Are Not Taken Into Custody
  • Defendant's Brief Submitted to the Court (84K, 7 page PDF)
• 9/1/2005: Written Comments to U.S. District Court on Fairness, Reasonableness, and Adequacy of the Proposed DFCS Settlement
  • Georgia Assocation of Homes and Services for Children (GAHSC) Comments Submitted to the Court (680K, 10 page PDF)
  • Barton Clinic Comments Submitted to the Court (84K, 29 page PDF)

    Settlement Reference	Parties' Target	Barton Clinic Request
    Outcome #4, page 32	Reentry = 8.6%	Change to 5%, based on past performance.
    Outcome #8a, page 32	Permanency from entry cohort = 40% at 12 months	Change to 60%, based on recent performance.
    Outcome #9, page 33	24-month-backlog = 35% permanent at 12 months	Change to 45%, matching recent performance.
    Outcome #16, page 35	-	Reword so siblings are placed together throughout period, not just while they are in the shelter or assessment center.
    -	-	Add definition of "sibling".
    Outcome #17, page 35	Placement stability = 86.7% at 12 months	Federal target, 86.7%, is used, so the cohort definition should match the federal definition: children in care less than 12 months.
    Item (C)(4), page 15	Placement standards	Children reentering placed in last appropriate placement.
    -	-	Add 6-month recurrence of substantiated maltreatment = 2002 rate, but <= 6.1%.
    -	-	Add 6-month recurrence of unsubstantiated maltreatment or diversion = 2003 rate.
    -	-	Add runaway discharge target of <= 3%.
    -	-	Value and encourage community input through transparency.

  • Over 30 written comments were submitted by concerned organizations and individuals, but, unfortunately, we cannot list them all here.
• 7/5/2005: Proposed Settlement Agreement (aka the "Consent Decree") with the DFCS Defendants Announced
  • Proposed DFCS Settlement Agreement Document (132K, 51 page PDF)
  • Proposed DFCS Settlement Agreement with Signatures and Attachments Submitted to the Court (472K, 64 page PDF)
  • Barton Clinic Announcement of Proposed DFCS Settlement Agreement
  • Press Releases: State Department of Human Resources, Children's Rights (Class Counsel)
• 2/7/2005: Denial of County Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment
  • Barton Clinic Summary of Children's Right to Representation Addressed in the Order
  • Judge Shoob's Order
• 1/19/2005: February 14, 2005 State Trial Date Reset Indefinitely
• 12/11/2004: Denial of State Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment
• 8/18/2003: Class is Certified by the Court
• 2/14/2003: DeKalb County Children's Shelter is Closed
• 12/27/2002: Fulton County Children's Shelter is Closed
• 6/6/2002: Filing of Original Complaint
  • Complaint (112K, 76 page PDF)

Barton Clinic summaries and other documents related to Kenny A v. Perdue have been compiled and edited by the following: Karen Worthington, Director; Elizabeth Reimels, Managing Attorney; Jessica Gordon, 2005-2007 Post-Graduate Fellow in Law; Rachel Davidson, 2005-2006 law intern; Turquoise Haskin, spring 2006 law intern.