Do You Know the Dangers of Social Services Negligence?
In the United States, one in 25 families with children has adopted at least one child, and more than a third of families have considered adoption at one time or another.
In the best of circumstances, a child can find a safe and supportive home their birth family may not have been able to provide. Likewise, for parents, adoption is a way of expanding their family; sometimes, it is the only way.
To ensure that this new pairing is a success, adoption and social services agencies have a responsibility of due diligence in researching both the adoptee(s) and the adopting family. If anything suspicious comes up, they are obligated to reveal this to all necessary parties.
Being neglectful in this is dangerous. Anything that is overlooked, or worse–bluntly ignored, can result in severe consequences, such as happened in one particular case:
A family we represented had adopted two children from a foreign orphanage. After repeated inquiries by the plaintiffs regarding the well-being of the children they were planning on adopting, the Illinois adoption agency’s employee represented to the plaintiffs that the children were in good health and had no history of violence or any sexually inappropriate behavior.
After the adoption agency’s reassurance, the couple adopted the two children and brought them into their home with their three young biological children. A few months later, the adoptive couple learned that one of the adopted children was sexually abusing their biological children and their other adopted child.
The Illinois adoption agency’s employee knew about the adopted child’s history of inappropriate sexual behavior and falsely represented to the plaintiffs that the child had no such history.
It would be one thing if an agency were not thorough in its research (which is terrible on its own). It’s another when such a harmful history was known and ignored. The agency employee was responsible for immediately informing the adoptive parents of the child’s previously reported inappropriate behavior. This would have saved their child, and possibly their other adoptive child, from experiencing the trauma and harm they unnecessarily went through.
Adopting a child can fulfill a parent’s dream of expanding their family, but if an agency neglects its duties, it can become a nightmare.
If you or a loved one have been a victim of social services negligence, contact us at 800-529-7285 to set up a free consultation.