State Agency to Pay $5 Million to 6 Sexually Abused Children
By Megan O'Matz and Shana Gruskin
Originally published in the Sun-Sentinel, May 17, 2002
Florida's Department of Children & Families has agreed to pay $5 million to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of six siblings who were physically and sexually abused while in foster care.
The suit claimed that state workers "ignored clear signs of danger," and allowed the children to be adopted by foster parents who starved them, locked them up and beat them.
"This settlement will provide the money these children may need for care and treatment throughout the rest of their lives," said Broward County attorney Howard Talenfeld.
Ordinarily, damages in state negligence claims are capped at $100,000. But the suit filed by Talenfeld contends that DCF violated the children's civil rights, subjecting the state to a greater penalty.
"From what I understand, this is the largest settlement damage claim ever paid by the state of Florida for the abuse of a foster child," he said.
Named in the suit, filed in 1999, were DCF chief Kathleen Kearney, who took over the agency that year, and five DCF workers.
"We feel that the settlement was just," said DCF spokeswoman LaNedra Carroll. "Mr. Talenfeld will receive $1.3 million for his fees and the rest of the $5 million will be divided among the six children.
"I'm happy to tell you all of the children are together, and I understand they're doing well," she said.
The negotiated closure to the suit comes at a time when DCF is under intense criticism for its handling of the case of 5-year-old Rilya Wilson, a child under state supervision who was discovered missing from her caretaker's house in late April. The child's caseworker had not visited her for 15 months and did not know she was gone. A search for the child is under way.
The suit involving the six siblings evokes disturbing parallels to Rilya's case. It charges that caseworkers failed to regularly visit the children, and that various units within DCF overlooked problems in the foster parents' backgrounds and turned a blind eye to the children's distress.
"We hope this judgment will be a wake-up call that the state is responsible for the actions of its employees," said Talenfeld, an outspoken child welfare advocate who regularly sues DCF on behalf of foster children.
The suit involves five brothers and one sister, now ages 9 to 15, who were in the care of Frank and Jackie Lynch of Hollywood in the early and mid-1990s.
DCF began placing the children with the Lynches in 1990, even though Jackie Lynch's daughter from a prior marriage was removed from her care in 1987 for sexual and emotional abuse, according to court documents. Jackie Lynch's other three biological children were put under protective supervision by the court, but left in the home.
The suit also alleges that DCF was aware that the foster father, Frank Lynch, "had abandoned his biological children," been arrested for obstruction of justice and fell $16,000 behind in child support payments.
"By the department's own standards, rules and regulations, the Lynch foster home should never have been licensed and re-licensed as a foster home," the suit states.
Talenfeld said no DCF caseworker documented a visit to the Lynch home during the first 20 months of their care there.
"The children were placed in this home and largely forgotten by the department," the suit stated.
The suit contended that the department's licensing unit left the children in the home even after learning that Jackie Lynch's 15-year-old son was arrested for indecent assault and videotaping a 14-year-old girl having sex with him. Another teenage male also was connected to the incident and was living in the home, as well.
The suit claimed that DCF ignored other warning signs, too.
In 1992, a DCF caseworker was told by the children's day care operator that Jackie Lynch was "uncooperative" and refused to keep the children at home when they were sick.
The suit states that the caseworker did not investigate the allegation nor visit the children to see if they were well.
Sometime in February 1992, a volunteer guardian appointed by the court to monitor the children told DCF workers that the children were withdrawn and cried easily, the complaint states. The guardian claimed that the oldest boy had "changed dramatically" and was like a "whipped dog."
The suit stated that DCF workers did not investigate the guardian's concerns, and later acquiesced to Jackie Lynch's demands that the guardian be taken off the case.
All six foster children were adopted by the Lynches in 1995.
According to the initial complaint in the case, the children lived in one room that contained no furniture, were forced to sleep on the floor and had no access to bathrooms.
"As a result, they were forced to urinate and defecate in the room," the suit stated.
It contends that the foster parents yelled slurs at the children, gave them Nyquil to force them to sleep, and videotaped them being physically and sexually abused.
In August 1997, the children were taken from the Lynches "because of the pervasive abuse they suffered while at their home," according to the court record. Earlier this month, all six children were placed with a new adoptive family.
