ALBANY (NY)
The Imprint - Fostering Media Connections [Los Angeles CA]
February 19, 2024
By Susanti Sarkar
A new report focused on dozens of New York agencies serving children, youth and families in the foster care system revealed a shocking number last month: These nonprofits now face more than 800 lawsuits alleging childhood sexual abuse, including allegations that date back as far as the 1950s.
The legal challenges follow passage of the 2019 Child Victims Act, a law written to “finally allow justice for past and future survivors of child sexual abuse, help the public identify hidden child predators through civil litigation discovery, and shift the significant and lasting costs of child sexual abuse to the responsible parties.” The state law, mirroring similar legislation across the country, lifted state statutes of limitation for survivors of abuse to file legal claims against their alleged perpetrators. Claimants had until Aug. 21, 2021 to file lawsuits.
Fifteen percent of the almost 11,000 cases filed in New York State against clergy, individuals and schools involve child welfare agencies, including some long-standing New York institutions, according to an analysis by Child USA, a nonprofit that focuses on prevention of child sexual abuse. The plaintiffs seek monetary damages and accountability for incidents they say have caused them a lifetime of trauma.
“The foster care agencies completely failed them,” said Helene Weiss, a lawyer whose firm is representing dozens of survivors under the Child Victims Act.
“When you are in a foster home or agency where you think you’re safe, you think you’re supposed to be taken care of — and where you’re supposed to trust the people who take care of you — and you face something as horrific as childhood sexual abuse at that institution not once or twice, but maybe for a period of five or six years, that destroys your entire childhood,” Weiss said. “That person’s life will never, ever be the same. You really can’t put a price tag on that kind of suffering.”
But a report released Jan. 9 by the SeaChange nonprofit consulting firm focuses on another fallout of the abuse: the staggering costs of legal claims the defendants now face. Seventy members of the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies — a statewide membership organization representing nonprofit child welfare organizations — reported a total of 812 lawsuits filed against them. The financial liabilities are so voluminous, SeaChange reported, that they may sink entire child-serving agencies, leaving foster youth and their families with even fewer providers in New York.
The findings are being used by the agencies to underscore the urgent need for a government bailout — to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Kathleen Brady-Stepien, president and CEO of the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies, said the act’s “unintended consequences are causing real financial jeopardy and putting all of these organizations at risk.” Many of these organizations also provide human services programs including mental and behavioral health care, services for intellectual and developmental disabilities, special education programs and substance use disorder treatment.
Lawmakers have proposed a fix that all sides of the legal cases appear to agree best serves justice.
A bill now before the state Legislature would create a $200 million Child Victims Act Fund, making grants available to reimburse public school districts and foster care agencies named as defendants in child sexual abuse cases. Those eligible would have to demonstrate they had no insurance policy when the abuse is alleged to have occurred, and a monetary judgment or settlement payout “would put a substantial burden on the district’s or agency’s ability to execute its mission and negatively impact its existing student population.”
Senate bill S4866, authored by Sen. Jeremy Cooney, describes the legislation as a way to address conflicting needs and responsibilities: The state must provide safe schools and foster homes to its children, and the Child Victims Act guarantees “victims and survivors of child sex abuse to seek the justice they so richly deserve.”
But “unfortunately,” the bill goes on to state, “the actions of immoral predators placed these two goals in conflict when public school districts and voluntary foster care agencies face serious financial harm by paying just compensation to these victims and survivors.”
The Child Victims Act Fund aims to resolve this conflict “with no negative consequences to our current students and our past victims and survivors.” It describes the $200 million as a small amount to pay to achieve its “notable goals,” amounting to just 0.09% of last year’s roughly $220 billion state budget.
“We need to do everything we can to support victims of sexual abuse in New York state, which is why I’ve been a strong supporter of the Child Victims Act,” Cooney told The Imprint in an email. “However, if our foster care agencies and nonprofits are forced to bear the cost, it will be our children today who will see the change in their services.”
Cooney said he and Assemblymember Jen Lunsford are pushing for the fund “to address the wrongs of the past, while ensuring we are setting up today’s children for success in the future.”
Putting a price on justice
Attorneys for the plaintiffs say they are more concerned about bringing light to their cases and preventing future harm. But as resolution drags on, frustration is mounting.
Although some survivors have begun receiving payouts, Weiss said they should “not be forced to wait around three, four or five years to wait for a response from some of these defendants.” She added that there are “dozens of foster care cases remaining in the state of New York that have not met a resolution, with no payout in sight.”
In making the case for unspecified damages, lawsuits filed in supreme courts statewide, including in the Bronx, Queens and King counties, detail survivors’ hefty costs for medical care, therapy, and the inability to hold down a job due to past abuse.
One teen who was sexually abused at a juvenile detention facility recently received a $50,000 payout as settlement. But scores more cases remain pending.
In one lawsuit, Kings County resident David Case described being molested in his foster home for five years between 1945 and 1954 by employees and associates of the Jewish Child Care Association, now known as JCCA, who were “negligently and recklessly” permitting continual “pedophilic and abusive activities.” In another, an anonymous plaintiff filed a claim against four former employees of a Westchester residential facility run by The Children’s Village, who he alleged had committed “vicious and brutal sexual assaults” against him between the ages of 9 to 13, from around 1978 to 1982.
These lawsuits repeatedly describe the long-term psychological impacts on the victims with words such as “guilt,” “loss of self-respect” and “shame.” Plaintiffs in numerous lawsuits accuse staff members, caregivers, agency-appointed foster parents and other residents of abuse, under what they describe as lax supervision. In one lawsuit against the former Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch in Riverhead, Alexander Ramos described arriving at a group home in 1995 when he was 12. He recounted sexual abuse as well as being “repeatedly beaten, tortured and threatened into obedience” by older teenage boys. David Burgos sued Pleasantville Cottage School for the sexual abuse he suffered as a 13-year-old at the hands of a teacher.
Agencies named as defendants did not all respond to requests for comment on the lawsuits.
But in an email, a spokesperson for JCCA said that “while JCCA cannot comment on ongoing litigation, we can say that New York must work to create a fund that will ensure justice for victims and allow social service providers to continue to provide essential services.”
Nonprofits say they’re buried
Consultants with SeaChange — an organization that provides financial services, analysis and advice to help nonprofits navigate complex challenges — acknowledged the need to compensate those with legitimate claims under the Child Victims Act. But they warn of unforeseen repercussions if child welfare organizations have to pay out monetary damages without assistance from taxpayer funds.
“WHILE JUSTICE REQUIRES THAT VICTIMS OF PAST ABUSE RECEIVE RESTITUTION, IT ALSO REQUIRES THAT REASONABLE STEPS BE TAKEN TO REDUCE THE HARM IMPOSED ON OTHERS.”
— SEACHANGE JAN. 9 REPORT
John MacIntosh, co-author of the recent report for the children welfare agencies, called the scenario of multiple nonprofits collapsing under the weight a “real possibility.”
The Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies’ 105 members rely mostly on government funding and some donations to provide foster care and prevention services to hundreds of thousands of families statewide. They collectively employ 40,000 workers. But there are few reserves to bear the settlement costs resulting from the Child Victims Act (CVA), SeaChange reported, based on its review of the groups’ tax filings.
“These nonprofits are far more exposed to distress from CVA-related lawsuits than religious institutions or the government, given the limited financial resources they have to bear the associated costs,” the report states. “While justice requires that victims of past abuse receive restitution, it also requires that reasonable steps be taken to reduce the harm imposed on others.”
Already, one member organization, the Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch, has filed for bankruptcy, stating that the step was necessary in part due to four lawsuits under the Child Victims Act. The suits alleged sexual abuse of three boys at the facility during the 1980s and 1990s.
According to Cooney’s legislation, similar cases have also prompted four of the state’s eight Catholic Dioceses to file for bankruptcy.
The path toward compensation
Prior to 2019, New York allowed survivors to file civil actions against sexual abusers through age 23, or criminal charges prior to reaching age 18. The Child Victims Act allows civil suits to be filed anytime before a person turns 55. The new legislation also initially opened a one-year window for survivors with no age limit and later extended that temporary window to August 2021.
The change acknowledges growing understanding that coming to terms with childhood abuse can take a long time. Doing something about it can take even longer. A 2023 data analysis by Child USA revealed that the vast majority of victims take decades to disclose abuse, often not until they’ve turned 50. More than 70% of victims do not reveal their abuse within the first five years, and approximately one in five never do.
“THAT PERSON’S LIFE WILL NEVER, EVER BE THE SAME. YOU REALLY CAN’T PUT A PRICE TAG ON THAT KIND OF SUFFERING.”
— ATTORNEY HELENE WEISS
Brady-Stepien, who represents the foster care agencies, acknowledged the absolute need for justice among those wronged. But she pointed out the difficulties of fighting claims from decades ago, noting that the perpetrators and institution leaders are long gone in most instances, and the agencies left standing do not have the insurance needed to cover the claims.
“There aren’t financial resources available to be able to ensure that survivors who have brought their cases forward can access justice in terms of a settlement or payout amount,” Brady-Stepien said.
She and others who support the Child Victims Fund Act say the state must step up to share responsibility — particularly given that many lawsuits named city and state CPS agencies as defendants.
Legal advocates called such arguments “scare tactics.”
“These are agencies with vast resources. These are agencies that have set aside litigation funding, that have a lot of money coming in from the state of New York to fund their programs,” said Weiss.
She and other lawyers for survivors believe state officials will ultimately come to their rescue. “The state of New York has a vested interest in keeping these organizations open.”
Susanti Sarkar is a New York City-based reporter covering child welfare.