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Girl who was reunited with father sues L.A. County

July 17, 2006
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - A teenage girl who had a much-celebrated reunion with her father last year after a decade in foster care is now suing the county for taking so long to find him.

Los Angeles County supervisors said last September that the meeting of Melinda Smith, now 17, and her father Thomas Marion Smith, was the result of a "groundbreaking effort," and congratulated county agencies for locating the father.

But the lawsuit alleges that the Department of Children and Family Services failed to use "due diligence" to locate Thomas Smith as required by law. It claims the agency never notified Smith that his daughter was in foster care and never gave him a chance to claim her.

"He's a registered voter with a valid driver's license and an open child support case," said Smith's attorney, L. Wallace Pate. "All they had to do, at any time during those 10 years, was pick up the phone and ask the L.A. County Child Support Services Department, `Do you have a contact on this man?'"

County officials would not comment on the case because of the pending litigation.

In July of last year, Melinda Smith saw her father for the first time in more than 10 years, and by November she had moved into his home in Pine Valley near San Diego.

Starting in 1989, Thomas Smith made child support payments to Melinda's mother for his 1-year-old daughter. When Melinda was 4, her mother moved and left no forwarding address.

Two years later, Melinda was turned over to foster care officials after the county received complaints of abuse.

Thomas Smith continued to send payments to L.A. County Child Support Services, and said he never knew his daughter had been sent to foster care.

Melinda Smith was shuffled through several homes and institutions for years until she met Peggy Crist in March of 2005.

Crist, a retired social worker, had been brought in by the county to help find permanent placement for teens in foster care. After hearing Melinda's story, Crist agreed to try to find her father.

It took one day.

Smith's whereabouts were listed as unknown in court documents filed on the case, though department records show that Melinda's caseworker knew Smith was paying child support to the county and his address was on file with the agency that collected the payments.

The Smiths' lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from the county, the social workers who handled the case and the private agency that provides attorneys for children in foster care.

"What would Melinda's life have been like if she'd had the chance to know her father, who looked for her, loves her and wanted to know her?" Pate said. "For the county to pat itself on the back for finally getting them together after all these years that's like freeing the slaves, then saying `Oh, well.'"

 

 

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