North Carolina
Jameson C. V. Governor Cooper
Plaintiffs: 9 children in foster care, representing the general class of over 11,000 children in foster care in North Carolina. The lawsuit includes a general class and a subclass: the Americans with Disabilities Act subclass, which represents children with emotional, psychological, cognitive, or physical disabilities.
Read the Motion for Reconsideration, October 13, 2025
Read the Dismissal Order, September 25, 2025.
Read the complaint, filed August 27, 2024.
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about the North Carolina foster care system
North Carolina’s foster care system has been operating in a state of crisis for years. The foster care population is increasing while foster home capacity decreases. Children are placed into institutions at twice the national average, are shuttled between placements with disturbing frequency, and do not receive adequate services or necessary medical treatment or education. Caseworkers are not receiving adequate training or support, they cannot manage the crushing caseloads, morale is low, and turnover is outpacing recruitment. State leadership predicted, correctly, that this crisis would invite “a massive class action lawsuit. Problems include:
Placement crisis: NC has failed to license, recruit, and retain a sufficient number of appropriate foster homes, and to provide necessary supports to those homes, which causes children to be housed in unsafe and inappropriate settings, which increase trauma for children already removed from their family homes and often separated from their siblings, their school, and their community.
Caseworker Turnover: From 2020 to 2022, turnover rates increased from 23% to 34%, and vacancy rates increased from 13% to 23%.
Children are stuck in foster care for too long and repeatedly enter the system: Reentry rates increased from 2017 to 2021: 277% increase in children reentering care within 12 months of a prior episode; 427% increase in children reentering care more than 12 months after a prior episode.
DHHS and DSS fail to make comprehensive case plans for children: DHHS fails to provide specific and updated case plans to children, instead resorting to “cookie cutter” case plans that are not regularly reviewed. Without effective case plans, foster children and their families go without the necessary services and support they require.
DHHS fails to create a reliable data and information system: Without a reliable information system, caseworkers are unable to perform critical tasks necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of foster children.
DHHS fails to to serve kids with disabilities: DHHS is unable to meet the needs of the thousands of foster children with disabilities whose involvement in the child welfare system places them at a greater risk of institutionalization.
Two counties in North Carolina—Mecklenburg and Gaston—have proven particularly ineffective at providing necessary services, are shuffling children between a variety of inappropriate placements, and are abandoning children in hospital emergency rooms.
ADVOCACY GOALs
Jameson C. v. Cooper requests that the court permanently prohibit DHHS from subjecting the children in the general class and the ADA subclass to further harm and from threatening their safety and well-being through practices that violate their rights. The case seeks an order directing the state and DHHS and County DSS to, among other things:
Keep children safe and unharmed while in foster care;
Lower caseloads of individual workers to professional standards;
Enforce mandatory performance metrics;
Take necessary steps to ensure that foster care is the temporary system it was intended to be;
Improve recruitment and retainment practices of appropriately trained caseworkers;
Ensure that children are only placed in homes or, in rare cases, in group settings, that can meet their needs;
Develop a process to properly match children with appropriate and safe foster homes;
Plan steps towards a permanent family for each child;
Ensure that services recommended in the child’s case plans are actually provided; and
Ensure that children with disabilities are provided with the services they need in their community.
Progress
Both the counties that we have sued, and the state agency, which we have also sued, have filed motions to dismiss the case on legal grounds. We have responded and await the decision of the court.
Meet OUR PLANTIFFS
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Jameson C. is an 8-year-old boy from Gaston County. He was removed from his home at 4 years old because of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. In the two years following his removal, DSS placed Jameson in five different foster homes all over the state. During that time, even though he was diagnosed with PTSD and ADHD, he never received mental health treatment or specialized therapy. Instead, Jameson was placed on a medication regime that included at least eight different medications, including psychotropic medications. He was finally placed with a foster parent who could help address his needs, but he was still required to visit his parents, which caused further negative behaviors. Even after 32 months in care, DSS had not filed to terminate Jameson’s parents’ parental rights. Because the caseworker assigned to him had a huge caseload and was working within an archaic paper-based tracking system, there was only so much she could do. Jameson's behaviors continued to worsen and started to severely impact the foster parents, who were forced to request his removal. After waiting 120 days, he was placed with a new family, who also couldn't manage his behavior, so he was placed on more psychotopic drugs. At the time he was only 7 years old. Without relief, Jameson’s condition will continue to suffer from placement instability, lack of appropriate services, and delayed permanency.
(All names below are pseudonyms)
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Sisters Megan (7) and Chloe (5) were taken into custody in September 2019 based on allegations of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Megan was 3 and Chloe was less than a year old. DSS first placed the children with a family friend. But because DSS did not provide the appropriate supports, the placement disrupted after one month. DSS then placed the children with a foster parent. During this time, DSS failed to secure therapy for the children. The foster parent was willing to be a guardian for Megan and Chloe, and the girls’ parents agreed to this. DSS had been working on a plan to terminate the parental rights of Megan and Chloe’s parents so that the foster parent could adopt them. But suddenly, after two years in the home, DSS removed the children without explanation, and without another adoptive home. They were then shuffled between several placements, where their mental health and behaviors deteriorated. The sisters were eventually separated, Megan going into a residential treatment facility that was so bad she was left alone and sexually assaulted by an older boy. Although the girls have been in DSS custody for over 2 years, DSS has not provided therapeutic treatment or a plan for permanency. Without relief, Megan and Chloe will continue to suffer from placement instability, lack of appropriate services, and delayed permanency.
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Annie is a thirteen-year-old girl from Mecklenburg County. She has been in foster care since she was five years old. DSS took Annie into custody in 2015 based on a finding of neglect. Although her parents’ parental rights were terminated in 2018, DSS has not placed her in an adoptive home before or since that time. Annie has severe developmental delays and acute mental health issues. She has an extensive history of mental health treatment and has been hospitalized numerous times since she was taken into DSS custody. She is on three different psychotropic medications, including one to treat her ADHD and two mood stabilizers. Despite her developmental delays, Annie was not evaluated and did not receive early intervention services. Since DSS took Annie into custody, DSS has placed her in at least 22 foster placements. Because these placements were ill-prepared to support Annie’s mental health needs, the placements quickly disrupted, and Annie’s condition rapidly deteriorated. As a direct result of DSS's actions and inactions, Annie has suffered and continues to suffer emotional and psychological harm. Annie remains at risk of deterioration due to placement instability, lack of appropriate services, and delayed permanency.