For the Welfare of Children: Lessons Learned from Class Action Litigation

For 40 years, class action litigation has been used to address difficult and long-standing problems in public child welfare systems. This publication brings together a series of papers authored by top experts to address the factors that make system reform litigation successful.

Included in the publication is an article by NCYL Director John O’Toole and Senior Attorney Leecia Welch on the Center’s reform case against the state of Utah. The case was settled in June 2007, with Utah’s child welfare agency going from one of the country’s worst to one determined by child welfare experts to be functioning well. How did that change come about? What were the major pitfalls and turning points? This article explores these questions, and distills some of the key lessons learned during the reform process.