DC KinCare Alliance and Ropes & Gray File Two Additional Federal Lawsuits Against District of Columbia

A Ropes & Gray team partnered with non-profit legal services organization DC KinCare Alliance to file two additional federal lawsuits against the District of Columbia and the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) for violating the rights of multiple low-income D.C. children and their relative caregivers under federal and D.C. laws. The cases, J.R. et al. v. District of Columbia et al. and Y.A.L. et al. v. District of Columbia et al. focus on CFSA’s continuing circumvention of the law through a practice called hidden foster care or kinship diversion. The cases were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and are parallel to six other lawsuits filed in  October 2019, March 2020 , and March 2021. Ropes & Gray and DC KinCare Alliance have now filed eight federal lawsuits on behalf of 24 plaintiffs who have been the victims of CFSA’s illegal and discriminatory practices. 

The two new lawsuits follow the District Court’s January 2024 ruling on Defendants’ motion to dismiss, permitting certain of Plaintiffs’ federal and D.C. claims to proceed.

Litigation & enforcement partner Samantha Badlam, who led the Ropes & Gray team said, “For the past five years, we have continually pursued action to ensure CFSA ceases its unlawful practice of kinship diversion and provides vulnerable children and their caregivers the services, benefits and processes they are entitled to.”

DC KinCare Alliance Executive Director Marla Spindel noted, “CFSA has continued to brazenly engage in these illegal practices that harm D.C. children and families in order to reduce its own caseloads and place the burden of ensuring the safety of children on the backs of kinship caregivers.”

In addition to Samantha, the team is led by associates Becca Williams and Brendan Kearney, and includes Patricia Adekunle, Margaret Cohen, Emily Fruchterman, Sadie Kavalier, Megan Lenz, Chadli Pittman, and Renee Whyte.