The case of R.C. v Hornsby challenged the failure of Alabama's protective and foster care systems to preserve the families of and provide treatment to children with emotional or behavioral disorders.
A child of divorced parents, R.C. was 8 years old when Alabama's Department of Human Resources (DHR) placed him in foster care after alleged abuse by his mother and unsubstantiated allegations that his father's home had no utilities. Although R.C. had never been diagnosed as mentally ill, DHR placed him in a psychiatric hospital, where he was given excessive doses of psychoactive medications, kept in locked isolation rooms and possibly physically restrained. When R.C.'s father protested his child's treatment, he was barred from the hospital on the basis that R.C. would become upset and unmanageable whenever a visit with his father ended. After 8 months in psychiatric hospitals and another 10 months in a residential treatment facility, DHR finally released R.C. to his father, making no effort to assist them after their reunification.
Treatment like this can only contribute to the emotional or behavioral disorders that account for 40% of all children in foster care. In a precedent-setting decision, the court ruled that child welfare systems have a legal obligation under federal constitutional and statutory law to provide family-preservation services and proper mental health care to children such as R.C.
Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
1101 15th Street, NW, Suite
1212
Washington, DC 20005
