RE “MASS. should defend itself against foster-care lawsuit” (Editorial, Jan. 28): You supported the Commonwealth’s decision to vigorously defend its foster care system in the pending federal court suit brought by Children’s Rights. The state has every right to spend taxpayer dollars to defend a defensible system. But is this system defensible?

Thirty years ago, Massachusetts made a similar decision, hiring a major Boston law firm to defend the case of Lynch v. King, in which a class of abused and neglected children, including those abused and neglected in foster care, sued to reform the foster care system. Sound familiar?