Foster Care

While the court case which led to the Consent Decree was terminated by the federal court in 2007, the Decree's principles have been incorporated into state law governing Alabama's child welfare system.

Children in foster care continue to benefit from ADAP's advocacy services in the areas of special education, the effective delivery of services for youth transitioning to adulthood, appropriate community based and behavioral services for youth with emotional and behavioral challenges, monitoring of safety and well-being in residential treatment facilities, and, when necessary, the investigation of abuse and neglect allegations.

On July 6, 2020, ADAP, along with its advocacy partners, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and Children’s Rights (CR), issued a  letter of concern and monitoring report  to the commissioners of the Alabama Department of Human Resources, the Alabama Department of Mental Health, the Alabama Department of Public Health, and the Alabama Medicaid Agency regarding abuse and neglect against foster care children at four Alabama facilities run by Sequel Youth and Family Services.  

Multiple ADAP staff conducted in-depth interviews with almost one hundred residents from the four Sequel facilities in Alabama. What we learned from our work is that Sequel facilities in Alabama are violent and chaotic places where youth are physically and emotionally abused by staff and peers, subjected to wretched living conditions, provided inadequate supervision and medical care, and subjected to illegal seclusion and restraint.  ADAP calls upon these four state agencies, as the relevant state licensing, funding, and monitoring agencies for Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (PRTFs), to take sweeping and immediate action to protect the children placed in Sequel facilities from ongoing harm.

As of January 1, 2014, the Affordable Care Act allows certain foster care children to receive Medicaid health coverage until age 26.