Hullett speaks at a park where she used to bring Judah to play. She's wearing a t-shirt with a picture of Judah in his remembrance.
(Devan Ridgway/WTIU)
Last year, Jenna Hullett and her partner received heartbreaking news. Judah Morgan, the four-year-old they’d fostered for three and a half years, was killed by his parents, just months after being returned to their care.
Hullett held a vigil for Judah in October, a year from when he'd been killed. Family, fellow foster parents, and child advocates joined her in LaPorte to remember Judah.
She was a kinship placement for Judah, technically his second cousin.
"I held him just a couple of minutes after he was born," she said. "And I knew I loved him then."
Hullett held a vigil to remember Judah back in October. She hugs an attendee who came that night. (Devan Ridgway, WTIU News)
Kinship placement is a care method the Department of Child Services has been leaning toward in recent years because keeps a child closer to family. Hullett went through foster care herself and didn’t want her family to go through the same experience.
"I wanted to help. I thought that he would adjust better with family," Hullett said. "And I knew that as a mom of three children that I could supply him with that love and with the affection that he would need."
Hullett said she tried to speak up against Judah being placed back with his mother and father, because she felt there were red flags being ignored. She wishes more weight had been given to their time together.
One of the things she’s advocated for is called Judah’s Law. Part of it passed last legislative session, allowing longtime caretakers to intervene in custody issues if they believe the child is in danger.
That part of the bill didn't get passed last year because it wasn't a budget year, Bohacek said. But the 2023 session is, and they plan to file that part then.
Hullett doesn’t want change to stop there. She and other advocates are gearing up for an important legislative session.
She has a list of ideas, including ways the state could spend money they dedicated to vulnerable children and mothers during the special session this summer.
Along with Senate Bill 1 that restricted abortion, Senate Bill 2 was passed during the summer to dedicate $45 million dollars to The Families First Fund– created to support pregnancy and families.
“Senate Bill 2 should be more directed to support for foster and adoptive care as well as services for the children," Hullett said.
Braelynn Yerington, a former foster parent and founder of Champions for Children, also wants to see increased pay for DCS workers, which she hopes will improve oversight an prevent children from lingering in the system longer than necessary.
“I talk to a lot of employees at DCS and former employees of DCS, and the low pay is constantly brought up. I do think it's contributing to turnover," she said. "And that would include attorneys for DCS and caseworkers, you know, anyone really who works for DCS."
DCS had nearly 2,000 staff carrying caseloads of families and children in 2021 and 18,533 open cases by the end of the fiscal year. The DCS annual staffing report said it needed 92 more case managers to meet the agency’s own guidelines. Nine out of the state’s 19 regions met staffing caseload standards.
Screenshot from DCS 2021 Annual Staffing and Caseload Report
And that gap widened in 2022, when 8 of 19 regions met state standards.
Yerington also wants easier access to mental health services for children in need of services and foster families. Advocates also want funding for legal representation for children in need of services.
Screenshot of 2022 DCS Annual Staffing and Caseload Report
Bohacek said families’ situations are often complex and take time to work through. He added lawmakers are aware improvements to the system and more services are needed.
“This is one of those things that you're going to have to keep working on this all the time," he said. "Because the problems change, in every family, and they become different every year.”
For Hullet, losing Judah will be with her the rest of her life. She’s created a group on Facebook in his memory and has been following the trials of Judah's parents in connection to his death.
"Changes aren't going to be made if I'm quiet," Hullett said. "And I think that's why I've been loud, per se. Because I know if I don't speak up, and if my family just sits by and curdles up in a ball and mourns, that nothing's going to change. And I don't want anybody else to go through what Judah went through."
The Indiana General Assembly will reconvene in January for a budget session. Other areas of funding addressed in Senate Bill 2 include support for foster and adoptive care, increased access to childcare, and programs to prevent children from entering the DCS system.
