Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

Members of the press and the public that have heard about the decision by the Archdiocese of Chicago to close its foster care agency run under the name Catholic Charities (CC) may be interested in the facts underlying the $12 million settlement that led to their inability to get insurance.

Three children were subject to the worst forms of abuse I have seen in my 23 years representing victims of malpractice and abuse. These are some of the most egregious aspects of the case:

1. CC placed three siblings under the age of four including one infant with a single woman in her 50's. This foster parent claimed to work nights at a hospital for approximately $20,000 per year. But our investigation revealed that she never worked at the hospital listed on her foster parent application and her employment was never checked by CC. Furthermore, CC made no inquiry into who would be with the children at night while the foster parent was supposedly working.

2. During the 2 1/2 years the children were in the home they were subject to sexual, physical and emotional abuse. One of the girls had her hands placed in boiling water resulting in full thickness burns on the entirety of both hands. She has permanent scarring and disability and has undergone numerous surgeries. The same girl had her arm broken by the foster mother which required surgery to repair.

3. All of the children were severely malnourished to the point of having stunted their growth. In addition to evidence of sexual abuse it was learned that the children were forced to sleep under the bed with pillow cases on their heads.

4. Although the CC social worker assigned to the children recognized the need to move them from the home a least six months before the burn incident CC did not make the change and a CC employee reportedly said the foster mother "probably just had a new boy friend."

5. Despite being required to visit the home at least three times per month CC was not making the required visits. The children were allowed to stay in the home even though at one point the foster mother could not afford to keep her phone on in violation of state law.

6. Doctors and psychologists that treated the children believe they will need a lifetime of therapy and counseling to deal with the emotional pain of leaving their birth parents only to be placed in a home where they were abused.

Interested parties are welcome to call me to discuss the facts of this case in more detail:

Chris Hurley 312-553-4900.