Children’s Advocacy group files foster care lawsuit against Massachusetts
A child advocacy group filed a federal class action lawsuit Thursday against Massachusetts. The lawsuit alleges the abuse and neglect of thousands of children in state care.
The Children’s Rights group which filed the case is seeking changes on behalf of approximately 8,500 children in foster care statewide.
The lawsuit contains 6 child plaintiffs who suffered because of the system’s failures. The children’s advocacy group is being represented by the Boston law firm of Nutter McClennen & Fish.
The lawsuit alleges that the state Department of Children and Families breached the constitutional rights of the children by placing them under situation which were both dangerous and unstable.
“Kids move from home to home to home with incredible frequency. Once kids are in foster care they are not making it back home or into other permanent families with any kind of timeliness”, said Sara Bartosz, Senior Staff Attorney for Children’s Rights.
She said the state has also failed to adequately prepare and support families to be reunified with their children.
The department has been quick to defend itself and is determined to fight to protect its reputation. A statement was issued by the department in response to the lawsuit saying it shares the goal of protecting the children.
Children’s Rights has also filed lawsuits in past years against Connecticut, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, Washington D.C.
It’s about time! As a child that spent all of my 19 years in foster homes, I can tell you I was severely abused, along with my sister and brothers. The first recollection I have of a case worker visiting was when I was 12 and my sister ran away. I was then forced to visit my natural mother, and upon her arrival for that visitation, I was put into her vehicle and my natural mother was told by my foster family not to bring me back! My mother turned out to be nothing I had dreamed of and I soon returned to foster care. About a month before graduation, I recall a case worker coming to my foster home to discuss my plans. Other than those 2 experiences, I do not recall a visit from any case worker at any time.
My sister and I spent 13 yrs in that abusive foster home, we both have scars from stitches and beatings. Neither of us even knew when our birthday was, never received a christmas gift while the rest of the ‘natural’ family celebrated the holiday, were left outside in freezing temperatures during the winter and were nothing more than Cinderellas to that family. During summer vacations, we spent the entire day outside. Our meals consisted of 2 pnut butter n jelly sandwiches for the day. We never ate at the dinner table with the family and we never ate what they ate. To this day, there are certain items I cannot bear to have in my cupboards.
Yes, this effects all of our abilities to bond to this day.
If I can provie any information which would help to recognize and protect these children from suffering the same abuse, I will.
There is a lot more to the story, too much to share here.
God help these children who are often placed in worse situations than they came from!
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