Four people alleged in a lawsuit filed Friday that they were sexually abused decades ago while in Baltimore City’s foster care system.
The lawsuit against Baltimore City and Jewish Community Services says the city and nonprofit did not take action to prevent sexual abuse in a foster home, despite receiving reports that relatives of the foster parents had molested the children.
The case was enabled by Maryland’s Child Victims Act, which removed the statute of limitations on lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse. The children had been placed into foster care in the 1950s, and the abuse, the lawsuit says, took place throughout the 1960s.
Attorney Nathaniel Foote, who is representing the four former foster children, said that the defendants “turned a blind eye to blatant warning signs” and that the plaintiffs “have carried the weight of this betrayal” for decades.
The seven-page complaint filed Friday in Baltimore City Circuit Court notes several occasions when the children had disclosed some form of sexual abuse, though little or no further action was taken.
At one point, one of the anonymous plaintiffs had screamed at the foster mother that her son had raped her, but the foster mother “denied this occurred and did not report it,” the lawsuit alleges. Two of the children had disclosed sexual issues to their Sunday school teacher, prompting a report to the foster care system, though no action was taken, according to the lawsuit. And at one point, one of the children’s biological mother had allegedly told the system that the foster parents’ oldest son “has often tried to molest” her daughter.
In addition to the sexual abuse, the foster home had 10 children living in a rowhome at the same time, withheld food from the children and would “beat them with a rubber strap,” the lawsuit says.
The city and Jewish Community Services, which is based in Northwest Baltimore, did not immediately return a request for comment.
The city’s social services department and the organization had partnered and “were responsible for the placement and supervision of” the children, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit comes as the state evaluates its current foster care system, where some children are housed in hotels. The practice came under the spotlight last year after one youth staying in a hotel in Baltimore County was accused of rape.
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