IRVINGTON (NY)
Hudson Independent
October 28, 2020
By Rick Pezzullo
Ten former residents of The Children’s Village residential treatment center in Dobbs Ferry have taken legal action, accusing staff, administrators and older residents at the home for troubled boys of sexual and physical abuse over a 25-year period.
The victims, who were all emotionally disturbed young boys when they were placed at the Children’s Village by courts or child welfare agencies, allege in lawsuits they were physically brutalized, raped, and humiliated by older residents, while similar sexual abuse was perpetrated by staff, including teacher aides, counsellors, and a former executive director.
When the boys complained to social workers or other staff about the physical and sexual abuse, they allege were either ignored or threatened with violence.
“These children were typically brought to The Children’s Village to remove them from abusive or neglectful conditions in their families’ homes with the goal of healing their traumas. Instead, their victimization continued and escalated to horrifying proportions,” said attorney Robert Greenstein of Greenstein & Milbauer, LLP. “These victims have endured—and continue to experience—fear, shame and pain. It has taken them years to step forward and tell their stories.”
The lawsuits accuse The Children’s Village of negligence in its hiring, training, and supervision, among other failures, from about 1970 to 1995.
The cases, which are being heard by Justice Steven M. Jaeger at the Nassau County Supreme Court in Mineola, were filed under the provision of the Child Victims Act.
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