Wrongful death: How will Cox payout save lives?

Re: “Jury awards family $98M in wrongful-death lawsuit,” (TNT, 8/2).

As a mother and grandmother my heart goes out to the Coxes in the loss of their daughter and two young grandsons. But what exactly was the lawsuit about?

They claimed DSHS failed to protect the boys, visiting their father who sought custody of them. Mr. Cox is quoted: “It’s gratifying to hear a jury tell the state they were wrong,” to “force them to change” and to “make sure this doesn’t happen to other children.”

I would be so thrilled to hear that $98 million would perfect DSHS standards, hire dozens of outstanding supervisors, social workers and record keepers who, maybe, could keep this from happening to other children.

But that isn’t what happened. All the article says about the award is that the money will go into the pockets of these admittedly grieving grandparents.

Somebody tell me what difference this will make to the future work of DSHS.

Maybe the Coxes will use it to convince a majority of Washington voters to support a budget that could really make a difference.

This story was originally published August 8, 2020 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Wrongful death: How will Cox payout save lives?."