Children’s Behavioral Health Lawsuit
C.A. v. Garcia,
United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
This class action arises from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services’ (Iowa HHS) longstanding failure to provide the Plaintiff children with legally required and medically necessary mental health care services. Plaintiffs are Medicaid-eligible children with a serious emotional disturbance who need intensive home and community-based services to treat or ameliorate their mental and behavioral health conditions.
On Friday, January 24, 2025, a federal court preliminarily approved a Settlement Agreement in the case. The proposed Settlement Agreement requires Iowa HHS to develop and roll out a set of key services statewide, including care coordination, in-home mental health services, and mobile crisis services. It also requires a new screening and assessment process, to ensure children with mental health disabilities are screened for appropriate services.
Settlement Agreement Documents
The settlement agreement document and the Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement can be found below. The process to file any objection to the settlement agreement is set out in the Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement.
If you would like to contact Disability Rights Iowa and the Plaintiffs’ attorneys, you can email us at medicaidsettlement@driowa.org or call Disability Rights Iowa at 1-800-779-2502.
Press Releases
Plaintiff’s Council has released multiple statements throughout this process. These press releases and related documents can be found linked below.
