Washington, D.C. — Foster Care Abuse Claims
Washington, D.C.: Decades of Neglect and a Systemic Child Welfare Crisis
Washington, D.C.’s child welfare system has been in and out of crisis for decades, failing to protect some of its most vulnerable residents. While foster care systems were created to protect children across the Country, 50 years of history has documented that they are re-abusing so many of them, subjecting these children to horrifying rates of sexual abuse and physical abuse. Washington, D.C.’s systemic issues that allow foster children to be sexually and physically abused evidence a broader national reality: foster care is a failed human experiment on these children, and our U,S, Capitol’s historical legal battles highlight these ongoing, active dangers which are the subject of similar class actions in at least 25 other states. As one of the jurisdictions entangled in class-action litigation for many years, Washington, D.C.’s LaShawn A. v. Barry 1989 class action lawsuit highlights these ongoing, active dangers challenged severe deficiencies in D.C.’s child welfare system, including massive investigation backlogs, extreme worker caseloads, and unsafe placements.
Former President Barack Obama proclaimed in 2013 about National Foster Care Month, “As a Nation, we have no task more important than ensuring our children grow up healthy and safe. It is a promise we owe to the hundreds of thousands of youth in foster care — boys and girls who too often go without the love, protection, and stability of a permanent family.” Sadly, we are failing as a nation.
Children reported missing from Connecticut DFCS custody, 2018–2022
Identified as likely sex trafficking victims
Of reviewed cases with unaddressed safety concerns
Medicaid-enrolled children affected, per the Isaac A. complaint
Foster care should protect children. In Washington D.C., the record shows it too often fails them.
As child welfare advocates, Justice for Kids® continues to protect foster children in throughout the USA and in Washington, D.C. by filing personal injury and damage claims throughout the state. Justice For Kids® Co-Founder and Lead Partner [bio summary]. Raised in Florida, educated at Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law, Justin has seen these institutional failures firsthand, which fuel his legal practice as he fights for systemic accountability for foster children nationwide. Justice for Kids® is committed to protecting foster children in the District off Columbia and throughout the nation for from physical, sexual and emotional abuse from child protection system that cause injuries to children.
The Litigation Record
Thirty-eight years of federal oversight
Every case below is part of one continuous legal fight: holding Washington D.C.’s child welfare system to the constitutional standard it has repeatedly failed to meet.
The Human Cost
Numbers a docket can't fully carry
Missing child reports involving 1,790 individual Washington D.C. foster children
Foster youth high school graduation rate, vs. over 83% of statewide peers
Ever attain a four-year college degree
Some high-needs children housed in offices and budget motels
Justice for Kids® Refuses to Be Silent
If your child was harmed in Washington D.C.'s foster care system, you have the right to answers.
We connect families with licensed Washington D.C. attorneys who handle personal injury and damage claims on behalf of children abused in state custody — at no upfront cost to you.