Suit to stop removal of severe autistic from foster care

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One day before Missouri child welfare officials planned to release a young man with severe autism from foster care, essentially making him homeless, the American Civil Liberties Union sued to stop them.

Late Thursday afternoon, the ACLU of Missouri sought an injunction in federal court against top officials of three state agencies, saying that without intervention by the court the state will remove his care and services and “place him on the streets of Kansas City with no one to assist him.”

The young man, who turns 21 on Sunday and can’t feed or care for himself, is not named in court documents.

Named in the suit: Jennifer Tidball, acting director of the Missouri Department of Social Services; Mark Stringer, director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health; and Joan Rogers, the interim director of DSS’ Children’s Division.

There are two issues in this young man’s case: he was not born in the U.S., and Missouri has not implemented a new federal law designed to keep kids from aging out of foster care during the pandemic. State custody ends when they turn 21.

That law, which went into effect in late December, instructs states not to release any child from foster care during the pandemic just because they’ve reached a certain age. A spokeswoman with DSS told The Star that the agency asked for additional guidance on the law and is waiting on that before it can go into effect in Missouri.

According to the lawsuit: “Doe will eventually receive a green card and be a lawful permanent resident of the United States; however, pandemic-related delays have slowed the process of obtaining this status for him.”

Ross and other child advocates can’t fathom why that federal law isn’t protecting kids.

The Star published a story about him Sunday, prompting hundreds of people to come forward wanting to help. People emailed asking who they could call and where they could send money for his care.

At some point, the young man’s mother lost custody of him after allegations of abuse or neglect. For the past four years, he’s been living in a group home in Independence, licensed by the Missouri Department of Mental Health, the suit says. His mother lives in a homeless shelter in Kansas City and is unable to care for him.

When a child with severe disabilities typically ages out of care, he or she then goes into the custody of the Department of Mental Health, which provides the services needed.

But, according to the lawsuit, DMH “is not providing these services to Doe because of his immigration status.”