COURT RULES TENNESSEE FOSTER CHILDREN CAN PROCEED WITH LAWSUIT AGAINST DCS AHEAD OF CRITICAL APRIL 17 HEARING

NASHVILLE, April 8, 2026 – Yesterday, a U.S. District Court in Tennessee denied the Department of Children’s Services’ (“DCS”) attempt to stop a lawsuit brought by foster children. The lawsuit, Keira M. v Quin (No. 3:25-cv-00566), which was filed last May by 19 foster children on behalf of the roughly 9,000 Tennessee children in foster care, claims that DCS fails to keep foster children safe. The decision, written by Judge Aleta A. Trauger, allows the children to continue fighting for their rights and move forward with their lawsuit. The children are represented by attorneys from A Better Childhood, Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, and the Barbara McDowell Social Justice Center.

The Complaint alleges that the plaintiffs and Tennessee foster children across the state are harmed because of DCS’s mismanagement of the foster care system, including the use of excessive caseloads, staffing shortages, inappropriate or unsafe placements, and failures to provide the medical and social services to which foster children are entitled. The court’s decision on the defendants’ motion to dismiss upheld the plaintiffs’ claims under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act as well as the bulk of plaintiffs’ claims under the substantive due process clause of the U.S. Constitution, but it rejected the plaintiffs’ claims under the Medicaid Act and the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act.

In March 2026, shortly after a disturbing audit report was released by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury highlighting DCS’s foster system failures, the plaintiffs filed an emergency motion for a preliminary injunction asking the court to end the “inhumane conditions” to which Tennessee’s foster children are being subjected in transitional housing. The court issued its ruling on the defendants’ motion to dismiss in the lead up to the April 17th hearing on plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction, that could immediately provide relief to the plaintiffs and other foster children in DCS’s care.

The court’s rejection of the defendants’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit means that the plaintiffs’ emergency motion, and the larger lawsuit, will proceed. Marcia Robinson Lowry, Executive Director of A Better Childhood, and lead attorney for plaintiffs, said “The court has affirmed foster children’s constitutional right to raise issues regarding Tennessee’s foster care system and plaintiffs’ claims that DCS is violating their constitutional rights. Nothing is more urgent than having this case heard, and the court’s decision ensures this case will move forward and these children’s voices will, in fact, be heard.”