Justices Will Decide Officials’ Liability in Child-Abuse Cases

The Supreme Court today agreed to decide whether public officials may be sued when their alleged gross negligence permits a child to be abused by a parent.

The justices said they will hear an appeal on behalf of a Wisconsin boy who at age 4 was seriously and permanently brain damaged from beatings by his father.

Social workers were accused of violating the child’s constitutional rights by failing to come to his rescue after they had seen repeated evidence he was being beaten.

The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals last year threw out the suit against the Winnebago County, Wis., Department of Social Services and two of its employees.

The boy, Joshua DeShaney, first came to the attention of the welfare agency when he was brought to a hospital in 1983 with cuts and bruises. The girlfriend of Joshua’s father said the boy was injured in an attack by another child.

Abuse Suspected

Officials suspected he was being abused by adults. A social worker, Ann Kemmeter, was assigned to the case.

Joshua was returned to the custody of his father, Randy DeShaney.

DeShaney’s former wife and Joshua’s mother, Melody DeShaney, was living in Cheyenne, Wyo., where the couple had been divorced.

A month after the first hospital visit, Joshua again was treated for suspicious injuries.

Kemmeter visited the DeShaney home on several occasions and noticed bumps on Joshua’s head. The boy also was treated again at a hospital for various bruises and injuries.

Did Not Ask to See Boy

Kemmeter visited the DeShaney home on March 7, 1984, and was told that several days earlier Joshua had fainted in the bathroom for no apparent reason. But according to court records she did not ask to see the boy.

The next day, Joshua was treated at a hospital for head injuries that destroyed half his brain, leaving him profoundly retarded and institutionalized for the rest of his life.

The boy’s father was convicted of child abuse and sentenced to two to four years in prison.

The county social services department and its employees were sued by Joshua’s mother on the ground that the boy was deprived of liberty without due process.

In other action, the court:

--Refused to give a Pasadena, Calif., shopping mall’s owner more authority to restrict various sorts of expressive activity on mall property.

The court, without comment, let stand a ruling that the mall must impose the “least restrictive” rules possible when regulating the distribution of leaflets, the soliciting of petition signatures and other political activity.

--Refused to hear an appeal by an Orange County, Calif., youth who police said was carrying LSD when stopped on the street as a suspected truant from school. The court let stand a ruling that his rights were not violated.

--Rejected a constitutional attack on a federal law requiring broadcasters to give equal time to opposing candidates for public office.