County Urged to Settle Molestation Case

Three girls who allegedly were sexually molested by their foster father during a two-year period should receive $1.6 million from the county because of neglect by the county’s Department of Children and Family Services, the county Claims Board concluded Monday.

The proposed out-of-court settlement, also recommended by the county counsel’s office, is aimed at averting a potentially far more costly jury award if the case goes to trial--particularly given the repeated nature of the alleged sexual abuse and the county’s lack of proper oversight in protecting the children, according to Claims Board legal documents.

The proposed settlement stems from incidents that allegedly began at a Whittier foster home in January 1988--when the girls were ages 1, 3 and 6--and ended in April 1990. Foster parents Steve and Becky Brown, who have vehemently denied any wrongdoing and were never criminally prosecuted, could not be reached for comment.

But county officials uncovered a pattern of abuse and neglect in the case that shows a near-complete breakdown in the system designed to protect children in the county’s care. An administrative law judge, according to the Claims Board documents, revoked the Browns’ license after concluding that Steve Brown had molested the girls and that his wife had acted negligently.

The county Board of Supervisors, which must approve all out-of-court legal settlements above $100,000, is expected to review the case as early as Sept. 30.

The girls came into the county’s care because of neglect by their biological mother, according to the Claims Board. Soon after, one of the girls complained of pain in her genital area, and subsequent medical examinations of all three showed that she and a sister had been molested. The three were removed from the foster home and placed in other homes.

The Department of Children and Family Services caseworker then told her supervisor that a report of suspected child abuse should be made to the police, but the supervisor advised her not to do anything, Claims Board documents indicate.

The caseworker disagreed and went to another supervisor, who “also refused to become involved or to investigate the matter,” the county documents show.

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Concerned about the children’s welfare, the caseworker went to her union representative, who told her to put all of the information in a report and forward it to her supervisor. The supervisor did pass along that report to Juvenile Court officials--but only after deleting all references to sexual abuse, the county documents indicate.

Shortly thereafter, the caseworker was removed from the case, and one of the girls was returned to the same foster home. She remained there for six months, and was again removed after a medical examination “revealed new physical signs of sexual abuse,” according to the county documents.

The girl later told investigators that both foster parents had threatened her with physical harm if she disclosed the abuse.

Yet despite all of the allegations of sexual abuse, the children were visited by their caseworker very sporadically, despite a state law that requires monthly visits, documents say.

County lawyers noted that the children will require significant psychological therapy for post-traumatic stress injuries they suffered as a result of the alleged molestation, and that a jury could conceivably award them more than $1 million each.

Annuities would be purchased for the children to provide “for their needs as may be determined by the courts,” said Senior Assistant County Counsel Lloyd W. Pellman. The children now live with a grandmother in South Los Angeles.

Schuyler Sprowles, a spokesman for the Department of Children and Family Services, said the criticisms of the foster care system are well-founded in the case, and in fact helped lead to a wholesale reorganization of the department and the hiring of current Director Peter Digre in 1991.

“That [hiring] and other changes have solved the problems of mismanagement of this department from the top down,” Sprowles said. He said the county has since given over to the state all responsibility for the licensing and recruiting of foster parents, allowing caseworkers to concentrate on oversight of the children involved.

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The delay in settling the case was a result of ongoing litigation, including a previous civil court trial, in which lawyers for the young sisters insisted on a jury award of $3 million and lost.

An appellate court then ordered a retrial, saying that the jury should have been instructed that the county was negligent because its caseworkers failed to make mandatory visits to their foster home. That conclusion would be entered into evidence in any future trial, county lawyers said, as would the administrative law judge’s decision to revoke the foster parents’ license.

Documents show that the county has already spent at least $744,584 in legal costs in the case.