Payout Weighed in Foster Care Death

Los Angeles County officials have recommended paying $1 million to settle lawsuits filed by a woman whose 9-year-old son died of an asthma attack while in foster care.

Debra Reid had accused foster care workers of failing to take basic steps to prevent a fatal asthma attack in her son Jonathan, who died two weeks after he was placed in a home.

In a second lawsuit, Reid said the county violated her civil rights by removing another son, Debvin, from her home for 15 months.

Reid, 44, said she felt gratified and vindicated by the settlement.

Before removing Jonathan from her home in 1997, county social workers said Reid had not provided appropriate care and may have suffered from Munchausen’s syndrome, a malady in which a parent fakes a child’s illness to gain attention.

“This shows that I wasn’t crazy and it was important to me that I at least stay in court on this case long enough to hit the million-dollar mark and send a message to [the Department of Children and Family Services] on behalf of children,” Reid said. “I want them to know that they can’t take children away from their parents without cause.”

The county counsel’s office recommended the settlement after attorneys predicted Reid could win as much as $2.1 million if the case over her son’s death went to trial. Attorneys also concluded that a jury would decide in Reid’s favor in the second suit, and potentially award her an additional $1 million.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the settlement Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Family Services refused to comment. She said she was barred from discussing the case until it is finalized.

Jonathan Reid was placed in foster care in 1997 after county officials decided his mother was unable to meet his medical needs related to his diabetes and asthma.

County social workers said Reid was too busy harassing them for additional services and not doing her own part in Jonathan’s care, according to court records.

Reid described Jonathan as a shy boy who was reluctant to leave the family porch without his mother.

After Jonathan was placed in foster care, he repeatedly tried to run away. After one escape attempt, he jumped from a social worker’s car as he was being driven to see a doctor. His action was called a suicide attempt, and he was institutionalized for several days and given an antidepressant.

Six weeks after being committed to the county’s care, and just 13 days after Jonathan was sent to a foster home, he suffered a fatal asthma attack. His foster parents had taken him to a doctor, who told investigators that she treated the boy without complete medical records.

In his letter outlining Reid’s case against the county, Assistant County Counsel Kevin C. Brazile told supervisors that the Department of Children and Family Services failed to inform the boy’s doctor of the severity of his asthma, and that the doctor was ready to testify that she may have been able to thwart a fatal asthma attack if that information had been provided.

“A jury could conclude that [the Department of Children and Family Services] was a cause of Jonathan [Reid’s] death,” Brazile wrote.

In an interview, Reid was optimistic that supervisors would approve the settlement.

“[County officials] kept telling me that I was dragging [the lawsuit] out. But in the end, they said my case was worth $3 million,” Reid said. “I think the department has had more to answer than I ever will. I kept Jonathan alive for nine years. He lasted only two weeks in their care.”

Since Jonathan’s death, Reid has supported legislation that would allow criminal charges to be filed against social workers who file false reports. Reid said social workers falsified reports to take Jonathan and Debvin away from her.

She also has organized protests of the county’s foster care system. “We received national attention on TV and things like that,” Reid said. “If my child had to die, there can be no better cause for him to die for.”