Foster Child Sexual Abuse And Abolishing the Parental Immunity Doctrine
Removed from their biological parents, the children were placed in foster care. The court and all the professionals held out hope that the children would one day be reunified. Toward that end, under court order, unsupervised visits were gradually introduced. Unfortunately, those unsupervised visits were occasions for the biological father to molest his own children in plain sight of the mother.
Eventually, the children sought to sue their mother. May they? Aside from the practical aspect of the mother having insignificant assets, what is the legal answer? The mother was present when the children were being abused. She saw their plight in time to act so the children could avoid being harmed and she knew, or should have known, that a legal duty existed to protect them. In such a circumstance, when a child suffers an injury resulting from a parent’s failure to adequately protect, should there be an actionable tort against the biological parent?
Can A Minor Child Bring A Civil Lawsuit against his or her parent for personal injuries arising out of sexual abuse? Parental Immunity Explained
The doctrine of parental immunity can be traced back to 1891 … Read More... “Sexual Abuse: May a Foster Child Sue Their Biological Parent for Abuse?”