Court: City must supervise foster parents

Court: City must supervise foster parents

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/...lines-brooklyn

BY PETE BOWLES
STAFF WRITER

May 24, 2005, 8:26 PM EDT


The city has a legal responsibility to supervise foster parents to ensure
that children entrusted to them are not subjected to mistreatment, an
appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The ruling could potentially open up the city to a flood of lawsuits by
people who, years later, may feel they were badly treated while in foster
care.

"We disagree with the decision that the city's liability for events
occurring during foster placement should be determined at trial," Ronald
Sternberg, a senior counsel for the city Law Department, said in a statement
last night. He said the city may appeal.

Tuesday's decision involves a complaint brought 20 years ago on behalf of
two Bronx children who alleged that they had suffered sexual abuse and
beatings from 1982 to 1984 in a series of foster homes after being removed
from the custody of their dysfunctional parents.

Noting the case's "long and tortuous history," the Appellate Division of
State Supreme Court said the alleged victims -- a sister and her brother --
were not deposed by attorneys until 1999 and were unable to provide detailed
accounts of their treatment.

Part of the delay, the court said, was caused by the 1997 arrest of the
sister, then a prostitute at age 20, in the fatal shooting of an off-duty
police officer who had picked her up to have sex. She subsequently pleaded
guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison.

The court said that during a four year investigation of the child-abuse
allegations, social workers were unable to confirm a single instance of
abuse or neglect. The sister was between 5 and 7 years old at the time of
the alleged abuse, her brother about 4.

In seeking to dismiss the complaint in 2002, the city maintained that it was
immune from liability under state law. In its 27-page ruling, the appellate
court denied the city's application.

The four-judge panel concluded that although the city is insulated from
liability with respect to the initial placement of foster children, it is
"answerable for any injuries sustained as the result of the failure to
adequately supervise foster parents to ensure that children entrusted to
their care are not subjected to mistreatment."