INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Lawyers for Indiana’s Department of Child Services are pushing to seal records in a federal class action lawsuit accusing the child welfare agency of inadequately protecting thousands of children in its care.

In a brief filed Aug. 23, attorneys for Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and DCS Director Terry Stigdon said sealing the documents would protect the children in the case.

The Journal Gazette reports that child advocates and an international law firm filed a brief Friday on behalf of numerous foster children questioning whose privacy the defendants specifically aim to protect. They had filed a lawsuit in June alleging the state agency failed to protect 22,000 children with open child welfare cases, including more than 14,000 who are in out-of-home care.

Indiana’s DCS has since defended its work.