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NC advisory committee hears testimony on Rollins/Ryland’s Law implementation and foster-care failures
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Summary
A Sept. 27 public briefing of the North Carolina advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights gathered parents, foster advocates, a state lawmaker and a Wake County judge to assess implementation gaps in Rollins/Ryland’s Law, flag county-by-county inconsistency, and urge more funding, oversight and child-centered advocacy.
The North Carolina advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights heard emotional testimony on Sept. 27 about failures in the state’s foster-care system and uneven implementation of Rollins (Ryland’s) Law, with witnesses urging increased oversight, funding and legal advocacy for children.
Representative Donnie Loftus, a state legislator, described the law’s intent and the gap between policy and practice. He said the 2017 reform required regionalized supervision of county departments of social services and laid out a blueprint of reforms from an independent 2018 assessment. "The premise is great," Loftus said, but he added the state has fallen behind on implementing recommendations because of funding, COVID-related staffing shortfalls and county-level autonomy. Loftus said House Bill 625 reached the Senate this session but did not pass the House and will be refiled next year.
Why it matters: witnesses and committee members said inconsistent county practices translate into instability for children and fewer foster parents. Ginger Rhodes, a foster parent and founder of the RAISE Foster Reform Coalition, told the committee she and other foster families have filed an OCR complaint and are part of a federal lawsuit alleging race-based "skin matching" removals in a North Carolina county. Rhodes urged child-centered reforms including independent child advocates and an ombudsman.
Rhodes described frequent moves and long-term instability: "Children in the system spend years bouncing from one temporary home to the next," she said, and cited data about placement churn and racial disparities. She urged limits on arbitrary removals and stronger accountability for county DSS offices, court-appointed guardians and the courts themselves.
Several parents who spoke during the public-comment portion described their own cases. Robert DeSoto said he has not seen his child since the child’s mother died and alleged the county’s handling of his case resulted in prolonged separation; Elizabeth McCann Thomas and Amalia Wilson described multiple placements and visitation denials despite following court-ordered requirements.
Judge Ashley Parker, a Wake County district court judge who handles abuse, neglect and dependency cases, framed her courtroom approach around child safety and reunification. "The system is broken," Parker said, describing heavy dockets, scarce resources and the difficulty of balancing timely permanency decisions with complicated parental needs. Parker said she requires documentation and sets a courtroom tone of accountability; she also explained that supervised-to-unsupervised visitation is stair-stepped in her court and that flexibility is important when parents have legitimate barriers to completing visits on a strict timetable.
Committee members asked panelists about concrete remedies. Loftus pointed to staffing, training and liability reforms and the need to ensure DHHS follows through on the 27 recommendations from the Center for Supportive Families assessment. Rhodes proposed child-directed attorneys and an independent office of the child advocate. Parker emphasized better mental-health funding, retention of qualified therapists, culturally competent practices and more time where warranted to evaluate parental stability.
Numbers and specifics mentioned at the briefing included Loftus’s estimate that foster-parent numbers fell from roughly 7,000 pre-COVID to about 4,000 post-COVID and his statement that the legislature approved roughly $168 million for mental-health supports to follow children across placements. Rhodes said more than 12,000 children are in North Carolina foster care and described counties where moves are much more frequent.
What the committee will do next: the advisory committee extended the written-comment deadline to Oct. 28, 2024, will debrief testimony in meetings scheduled for late October and mid-November, and will draft a report to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights with findings and recommendations. No formal votes or actions were taken during the briefing.
The briefing closed with an invitation for written follow-ups; the committee adjourned at 1:37 p.m.
