Current:Home > FinanceDozens allege child sexual abuse in Maryland treatment program under newly filed lawsuits -Global Capital Summit
Dozens allege child sexual abuse in Maryland treatment program under newly filed lawsuits
View
Date:2025-04-26 11:18:12
BALTIMORE (AP) — More than three dozen people allege in two lawsuits filed Tuesday that they were sexually abused as children at a Maryland residential program for youths that closed in 2017 following similar allegations.
In the separate lawsuits, atorneys detailed decades of alleged abuse of children by staff members of the Good Shepherd Services behavioral health treatment center, which had billed itself as a therapeutic, supportive environment for Maryland’s most vulnerable youth.
The program was founded in 1864 by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic religious order focused on helping women and girls. It began at a facility in Baltimore before moving to its most recent campus just outside the city.
Tuesday’s lawsuits add to a growing pile of litigation since Maryland lawmakers eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases last year.
Many of the plaintiffs — almost all of them women — reported being injected with sedatives that made it more difficult for them to resist the abuse. Others said their abusers, including nuns and priests employed by the center, bribed them with food and gifts or threatened them with violence and loss of privileges.
The claims were filed against the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services and Department of Human Services, agencies that contracted with Good Shepherd and referred children there for treatment. The lawsuits also named the state Department of Health, which was tasked with overseeing residential facilities. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd religious order wasn’t a named defendant in either suit.
None of the state agencies immediately responded to requests for comment Tuesday.
Many of the children referred to Good Shepherd were in foster care or involved in the state’s juvenile justice system.
“The state of Maryland sent the most vulnerable children in its care to this facility and then failed to protect them,” said Jerome Block, an attorney representing 13 plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits filed Tuesday.
Good Shepherd was closed in 2017 after state agencies decided to withdraw children from the program, which had been cited the previous year for not providing proper supervision after one patient reported being sexually assaulted and others showed signs of overdose after taking medicine stolen from a medical cart, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Since the state law change that went into effect in October, a flurry of lawsuits have alleged abuse of incarcerated youth. Lawmakers approved the change with the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal in mind after a scathing investigative report revealed the scope of the problem within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. But in recent months, an unexpected spotlight has settled on the state’s juvenile justice system.
While attorneys said they plan to file more complaints under the new law, their cases could be delayed by a widely anticipated constitutional challenge that’s currently winding its way through the courts.
A Prince George’s County Circuit judge ruled last week that the law was constitutional in response to a challenge filed by the Archdiocese of Washington, which also spans parts of Maryland, but the decision is expected to be appealed. The underlying case accuses the archdiocese of failing to protect three plaintiffs from clergy sexual abuse as children.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- Albertsons, Kroger release list of stores to be sold in merger. See the full list
- Free at Starbucks on Wednesday, July 10: A reusable straw for your summer of cold drinks
- Much at stake for Biden as NATO leaders gather in Washington
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- Why Below Deck Guest Trishelle Cannatella Is Not Ashamed of Her Nude Playboy Pics
- Missing Michigan mother and baby found walking barefoot at Texas ranch
- Bahamas search crews say they've found missing Chicago woman's phone in water
- Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
- England vs. Netherlands: What to know, how to watch UEFA Euro 2024 semifinal
Ranking
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Their Vermont homes were inundated by extreme flooding. A year later, they still struggle to recover
- What Gypsy Rose Blanchard Said About Motherhood Months Before Pregnancy Reveal
- Mississippi man charged with stealing car that had a baby inside; baby found safe
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Fed's Powell says labor market 'has cooled really significantly.' Are rate cuts coming?
- Florence Pugh falls in love and runs Andrew Garfield over in 'We Live in Time' trailer
- How the Kansas City Chiefs Are Honoring Cheerleader Krystal Anderson 4 Months After Her Death
Recommendation
Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
Their Vermont homes were inundated by extreme flooding. A year later, they still struggle to recover
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard withdraws from US Olympic basketball team
Sen. Bob Menendez's lawyer tells jury that prosecutors failed to prove a single charge in bribery trial
Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
Congressional Democrats meet amid simmering concerns over Biden reelection
Missouri man accused of imprisoning and torturing a woman for weeks indicted for murder
European Union adds porn site XXNX to list of online platforms facing strictest digital scrutiny