PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia woman who is now 19 years old claims that she was both physically and emotionally abused as a child, during the span of time she was placed in a foster home by city entities.
Brianna Donahue first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Aug. 2 versus the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services and Turning Points for Children. All parties are of Philadelphia.
“On or about Sept. 18, 2017, DHS placed plaintiff with family members after a determination of dependency by Judge Lyris Younge. DHS sought to remove plaintiff from her family and attempted to destroy the family bond between plaintiff and her siblings and mother. At the time of the placement, plaintiff was 15 years old and objected to being separated from her mother and sister. Regardless of her preference, Judge Younge removed her from her mother’s care and placed her in kinship care. Judge Younge’s order resulted in the separation of plaintiff from her mother and siblings,” the suit says.
“Plaintiff was removed from a kinship placement and placed with another family member. DHS removed her from the care of this family member, as it failed to investigate that individual’s background and abruptly discovered information related to a criminal conviction that rendered the family member unable to act as a kinship resource. Plaintiff was then moved to another kinship placement where she remained until 2018.”
At that point, Donahue was placed with a foster parent, who is unnamed as neither the City of Philadelphia nor Turning Points have definitively identified this parent sufficient to include the parent in this suit, and the plaintiff is unsure of the exact name of the parent.
The placement was in Philadelphia through Turning Points for Children, which acted as the Community Umbrella Agency (CUA) in the supervision of plaintiff’s dependency case, still active at that time with the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas and Judge Lyris Younge.
“At the foster care home, plaintiff was abused physically, verbally and emotionally by the foster parent and other children in the house. Plaintiff was starved by the foster parent and kept from eating on a daily basis,” according to the suit.
“Plaintiff was verbally and physically abused by the other children in the home of the foster parent, including being kicked, punched, thrown to the ground, spat on, beaten with objects, taunted, jeered, teased, and mocked. At times, tie taunting and mocking related to her race, which was different than the foster parent and the other children in the home. Plaintiff suffered bruising and scrapes to her body, along with emotional and psychological injuries related to the physical abuse she suffered.”
Donahue reported the abuse to Noellia Torres, the CUA Social Worker and employee of defendant Turning Points for Children and the foster care family that DHS and Turning Points approved. After Donahue made the reports, Torres informed the foster parent that she had done so, at which point the physical and emotional abuse increased.
“After being told of plaintiff s reports, the foster parent withheld food from plaintiff, causing her to starve and sometimes go without eating food for a day. The foster parent placed locking devices on cabinets in her home to prevent plaintiff from having enough food to eat,” the suit states.
“Plaintiff went to bed on a daily basis without enough to eat despite foster parent receiving funds through her participation in the foster care program monitored and administered by Turning Points. Funds allocated specifically to feed and care for plaintiff were not used for those purposes, and Turning Points and DHS failed to ensure that these basic needs were being met by the foster care parent. Defendants DHS and Turning Points kept plaintiff in the care of the abusive foster parent for over two months prior to plaintiff running away from the from the home.”
The plaintiff suffered “severe mental and psychological pain and anguish, post-traumatic stress disorder, severe and extreme hunger, loneliness, isolation, embarrassment, loss of life’s pleasures, anxiety, stress and other psychological impacts that have been and may be diagnosed in the future by medical and psychological professionals.”
“Plaintiff was moved front the foster parent home to Carson Valley Group Home, where she revealed the abuse to personnel of the home. Defendants Turning Points and DHS did no investigation into the abuse suffered by plaintiff at the foster home. Neither interviewed the plaintiff regarding her reports, and upon information and belief, permitted the foster parent to continue as a resource after plaintiff’s abuse,” the suit says.
For counts of state-created danger and civil rights violations through 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 and negligence, the plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, reasonable attorney’s fees, pre-judgment interest, an order directing such other and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper, including but not limited to, appropriate costs and disbursements and a trial by jury.
The plaintiff is represented by Jay L. Edelstein of the Law Offices of Jay L. Edelstein, in Philadelphia.
The defendants have not yet obtained legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:21-cv-03433
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com