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CASE EVALUATION
Fighting Against Negligent & Abusive Foster Care Systems
Under funded and under staffed foster care systems are incubators for horrific abuse cases. Just because something terrible happens as a result of the foster care system, does not mean someone has a strong lawsuit, or even a claim. In fact, many state court judiciaries have made it more difficult in recent years for those abused in the foster care systems to obtain justice.
It’s critical for any foster care case to be analyzed properly at the outset, and decide where to bring the claim (Federal Court or State Court). Also, the type of claim is critical. As explained below, based on our experience at Kristensen Law Group, we believe there is one set of facts that are necessary for any claim to be worth pursuing, and to bring those claims in Federal Court where the judges are further removed from municipal governance than their State Court brethren.
The number one fact that is necessary is some prior knowledge of the foster care system of the dangers presented by the assailant. You need evidence of prior bad acts that the foster care system (generally a County government sub-division) knew, or should have known about the tendencies of the assailant.
In our recent case against the County of San Bernardino, we had evidence that the County and its social worker had knowledge of the dangers of the assaillant, and kept moving the victim with the assaillant. The older brother had been sexually abusing his younger brother and other children in the system for a long time.
That case resolved for $7.5 million dollars.
One of the critical factors was filing the case in Federal Court. The California Courts of Appeals had chipped away at claims against Counties for foster care abuse for years. The Ninth Circuit ruled that Federal Courts were only bound by the original California Supreme Court rulings, and that the Court of Appeals decisions were inconsistent with those higher rulings. That case is AE v. County of Tulare, 666 F.3d 631 (2013).
We generally have a foster care civil rights case we are working on. For every case we accept, we have to turn down ten. If you believe you have a foster care abuse case, contact us as soon as possible at contact@kristensen.law, or feel free to call or text us at (805) 837-2000.