Foster Mom Claims County Racial Bias

Brenda Lee figured she did everything she needed to do to become a foster parent. She and her husband, Hills, went through the routine six months of training, interviews, background checks, home assessment and physicals.

But four years and four foster children later, the Lees are on the outs with Orange County’s Social Services Agency, and federal officials are looking into Lee’s claim that the county has discriminated against her because of the color of her skin.

The Fullerton woman believes that several children were removed from her care mainly because she is African American. She admits that she used two fingers to “tap” one child, Lexus, to “get her attention” when the girl was doing something wrong.

County rules forbid any corporal punishment.

Now, with a list of supporters from her pastor to private social workers, Lee has embarked on a one-woman campaign aimed at getting Lexus back and at exposing what she sees as flaws in the county’s handling of foster children.

“I have had four children--all have been removed from my care,” Lee said. “They have had the best of care. No secondhand clothing. Lexus was enrolled in private school, swimming lessons, anything I gave my biological child.

“It’s not just about material things: We go to church every Sunday,” Lee said. “I couldn’t give any more if I was her biological parent.”

Kimberly Berry, executive director of Hannah’s Childrens Homes, said the county has not been acting in the best interest of Lexus, who is hyperactive and hard to place in a foster home.

Berry, whose private company helps the county find foster homes, including Lee’s, said the county’s Children and Family Services department may have had issues with Lee’s personality, but she sees no flaws in Lee’s care.

“As far as Lexus is concerned, that is her family,” Berry said.

In an April 26 letter of recommendation, Berry wrote that Lee has been given “some of our most challenging children because we knew that she would exhaust all avenues to make the placement successful.”

The county says state and federal confidentiality rules prohibit them from responding publicly.

“We have responded to the [federal] civil rights complaint,” said Michael Riley, the department’s director. “We obviously feel we have not done anything to discriminate or done anything improperly.”

Riley, who also is African American, said Lee’s telephone calls to his office prompted an internal investigation, which revealed no impropriety. In addition, Lee complained to the state Social Services Department that the county failed to give proper notice before removing Lexus, but the state concluded that the county acted properly.

Ethnicity is sometimes considered in a placement if all other factors are equal, Riley said, but ethnicity is never a factor in removing a child.

“We will place the child in what we consider the best home, in the best interest of the child,” Riley said.

Too Few Foster Homes

More than 5,000 children are in the county’s foster care system and about 2,000 of them are in foster homes. The remainder are with their biological parents, relatives or in group homes.

Foster families are in short supply, Riley said, so the county does everything possible to maintain good relations. The county needs at least 200 more foster homes.

Therefore, he said, “for us to put a hold in a placement, we think it’s a very serious matter.”

Brenda Lee said she completed the requirements to become a foster parent, though Hills Lee didn’t finish all the training because of the constant travel his work requires.

Nevertheless, the county sent them their first foster children--two siblings of Hispanic and Vietnamese descent--in 1995. Within two months, they were removed.

Lee said a social worker told her that the children’s biological mother “found out I was black and she didn’t want her children with a black momma.” But Riley said biological parents have no voice in deciding where their children are placed.

Lexus arrived at the Lee household in March 1996, one of a number of foster homes the county had shuttled the girl to in her short 4 1/2 years. This time, Lexus stayed for three years, until the county removed her in March.

Carolyn Gates, the Hannah’s social worker who helped place Lexus, thought she had finally found a situation that worked. Brenda Lee was a caring and deeply religious woman who wanted to adopt Lexus.

“She was in a very good home, a safe and nurturing home environment,” Gates said. Lexus was “very much loved, and attached and bonded to her foster family.”

Rare Action by Agency

The county’s family services department didn’t see things quite the same way, and twice removed the child from Lee’s care.

The first time came only two months after Lexus was placed with the Lees. Brenda Lee’s brother, James Slater Jr., had died, and Lee wanted to take Lexus to Ohio for four days to attend the funeral.

“They claimed it would not be in her best interest--that a 2-year-old shouldn’t attend a funeral,” Lee said.

Such decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, Riley said. “If we feel it might be detrimental to a child, we’re going to intervene and say no.”

Lee said the agency removed Lexus and “it took me a month to get her back,” she said. “In that month, they moved her two or three times.”

In October, 1997, the agency placed another child in Lee’s care. She was removed three months later for “personal reasons,” Lee said. Neither Lee nor the Hannah’s social workers would comment further.

But Lexus remained with the Lees and their biological daughter, Hillicia, now 10.

Last October, the county obtained a court order for Lee to take a psychological evaluation to determine if she is a fit foster parent. She believed the sole reason for the exam was her race and refused to cooperate when a doctor called.

“I told him that I didn’t give up my rights when I became a foster parent, and unless someone gave me a reason, I wasn’t going to submit,” Lee said.

Riley said his department requests such exams only if there is cause.

“If a foster parent begins to engage in erratic behavior or behavior that’s at risk of harming the child, then we might request a person get a psychological exam,” he said. “It can happen in a home that we felt for years was a good home.”

The exam request prompted Lee to file the complaint with the federal Department of Health and Human Services last November. Federal investigations of the county agency and its family services unit are rare, and findings against the county are even rarer.

Lee’s is one of five pending cases, and the only one involving family services, said Ira Pollack, regional manager for the Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights. He said his agency has never had to take enforcement action against the county since he arrived in 1981, though some cases may have resulted in settlements.

Highly Recommended

Berry of Hannah’s Childrens Homes also questions the county’s motive, though for different reasons.

“Mrs. Lee is a very outspoken person who questions the effectiveness of the system and is also a strong advocate for the well-being of the children for whom she cares,” she wrote in her letter of recommendation.

In an interview this week, she said, “I think they removed Lexus because they found Mrs. Lee difficult to work with.”

Even Hannah’s found Lee hard to work with, but that is no reason to remove children from her care, Berry said.

“The most important entity in this whole thing is the child,” she said. “It’s going to be very difficult for anyone to adopt [Lexus] and plan on keeping her long-term.”

Talking about the Lee case was problematic for Berry because her company still has a contract with the county. But she believes the county was wrong to remove Lexus.

“What is unfair is that Lexus had been put in the home years ago, removed, bounced around to several homes, and then they called Mrs. Lee and asked her to take her back,” she said.

“The longer the child was in the home, the more she grew accustomed to the family and they to her. They became very attached.”

Father Jude Herlihy, pastor of the St. Juliana Falconieri Roman Catholic Church in Fullerton, said Lee is a “go-getter” who is extremely active in church and distributes communion most Sundays as a Eucharistic minister.

“When she wants something, she’ll leave no stone unturned,” he said. “If you want a job done, turn it over to Brenda. It will be done, though she might ruffle a few feather along the way.”

Herlihy said Lee’s fight to adopt Lexus will be no different.

“Lexie apparently was at [several] other foster homes and she did not work out well there. She seemed to work with Brenda,” he said. “It just seemed kind of strange--if things were working, why did they take the child from Brenda? Little Lexie was happy there.”