The Salt Lake Tribune

Deborah Langdon believes Utah's child welfare system is responsible for her daughter's death in September.

The 17-year-old committed suicide while living with a foster family in Carbon County. Langdon says her daughter was distraught because the Division of Child and Family Services limited her contact with friends and family, and because she believed she wouldn't leave foster care until she turned 21.

"She was depressed because of what was going on," Langdon said. "She was not broken - she was shattered."

On Thursday, the five members of the Legislative Child Welfare Oversight Committee discussed the suicide in a closed meeting with DCFS leaders. The committee, created as part of a lawsuit settlement, gives lawmakers more direct supervision over the agency.

It is the first time the group has limited public access to its hearings in nearly three years.

Co-chairman Rep. Mike Thompson, R-Orem, declined to explain why lawmakers voted against hearing from Langdon and her attorney, Wayne Searle.

DCFS officials, restricted by privacy regulations, could only say the suicide was a shock to their staff.

Director Richard Anderson said the girl had attempted suicide in July, which prompted the state to arrange therapy sessions.

Still, her foster parents and the therapist who saw her earlier in the week didn't see signs of an impending suicide in September.

Anderson went to Price the day the girl died and described his staff as "devastated."

Three other teens - including two brothers, one who was in the custody of the Division of Juvenile Justice - have killed themselves in Moab since July. The four knew each other, Anderson said.

Searle alleges the suicides of the girl in foster care and the boy in Juvenile Justice point to a potential systemic problem.

DCFS disagrees, saying two other teens in their custody have committed suicide since 2000.

"If we had a systemic suicide problem, I'd be shouting to the whole world to come and help," Anderson said.

The Department of Human Services, DCFS' parent agency, is conducting a fatality review. Officials will look into the handling of the case and investigate whether the system should have responded differently.

Thompson said the oversight panel will likely take up the issue of teen suicide at a later meeting.