State ordered to pay abused foster children $6.2 million
05:24 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Associated Press
http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_060507WABfostercarejuryTP.1b0bebf0.html
SEATTLE - A King County Superior Court jury ordered the state to pay
$6.2 million Tuesday to four siblings who were repeatedly abused in
foster care, the latest in a string of legal troubles for the state
Department of Social and Health Services.
The jury deliberated for three days following the three-week trial,
which focused on whether the state was negligent in licensing and
monitoring the Seattle and Tacoma foster homes where the children stayed.
Kathy Goater, an attorney for the children, said that while they stayed
at the Seattle home of Pearl Hall from 1993-97, Hall's son sexually
abused them. They also were beaten with extension cords, belts and
"whatever else was handy," Goater said.
They were sent to another home in Tacoma from 1998-99, and were beaten
there as well, she said. The children are now 13 to 19 years old.
"It is deeply regrettable that these children had to suffer abuse in a
home that should have been a safe place," DSHS spokeswoman Kathy Spears
said. "We did try to resolve this matter prior to trial, but the
settlement negotiations did not bring us close enough to resolution."
The state Attorney General's Office is weighing whether to appeal,
Spears said.
In 2004, the state agreed to overhaul its foster-care system to settle a
case brought by Jessica Braam, who had lived in 34 foster homes by the
time she sued in 1998. An oversight panel was assigned to work with DSHS
in improving foster parent training and support, preventing unsafe
placements and making other changes, but the state has been sued several
times in recent years.
Last month, the state agreed to pay $290,000 to settle a lawsuit
accusing the state of negligence in the case of an 8-year-old foster
child sexually abused at a foster home in Ellensburg in 2002. In April,
a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed in Yakima County blamed state social
workers for ignoring warnings that could have avoided abuse that left a
6-year-old girl brain damaged and partially blind.
Goater's co-counsel, Becky Roe, said she had never seen a group of
children who so badly slipped through the system's cracks, and she hoped
the verdict Tuesday would encourage the state to get its act together
when it comes to protecting foster children.
"They are supposed to be monitoring and complying with their own
policies, and they weren't," Roe said.
At a news conference, the oldest of the four children, De'Arra Williams,
praised her brother Robert, now 16, for running to a supermarket one day
in 1998 as Pearl Hall was about to beat him. The police found him there,
and a few days later the four were moved to the home in Tacoma -- where
things didn't turn out much better. Robert was 7 at the time.
"He saved us," De'Arra said. "I think if we'd stayed any longer, worse
could have happened. His bravery saved our lives."
As for verdict, she said, "the money's not such a big thing. The fact
that this was happening and still is happening should be the priority."
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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