Lawsuit: Four Foster Children Sue Washington State Over Abusive Foster Home UPDATED Bittersweet Justice

From Tacoma, Washington, a lawsuit has been filed against the state of Washington by four former foster children of Jose and Juanita Miranda. Jose was convicted of sexually abusing the children. “He died in prison at the age of 55 two years ago of congestive heart failure.” Juanita died nearly five years ago at age 49 of a drug overdose.

“Alexander Gonzalez, Michelle Harris, Elizabeth Tapia and Aurora Tapia – all either 19 or 20 years old – seek undisclosed damages.

They claim, among other things, they were:
• Forced to have sex with Jose Miranda or with each other while he watched.
• Made to eat expired food then their vomit if they threw up.
• Beaten with a broomstick, cane, frying pan, electric cord and stick with small nails in it.

Jose Miranda allegedly kept a locked room in the house where he had sex with his foster children, the lawsuit states.

“Jose routinely drugged the children with sleeping pills and forced them to engage in multiple sex acts with him and other children in the home,” according to a news release issued by Messina Bulzomi Christensen.

The lawsuit documents more than 20 complaints filed against the couple during their six years (1997-2003) as licensed foster-care parents, including allegations of sexual abuse and withholding food from the children.

The complaints came from teachers, neighbors, social workers, relatives, coaches and the children themselves.

In 2001, an employee with the state Department of Social and Health Services noted in a report that “there have been repeated CPS referrals on this foster home which places a level of risk which requires added agency supervision,” according to the lawsuit.

“There were multiple opportunities for the state to save these children from this nightmare, but they failed to act,” Johnston said.

The lawsuit contends the state never should have issued a foster-care license to the Mirandas, as Juanita Miranda had a felony record in California and lost custody of two of her children there.”

Former foster kids sue state over Tacoma ‘house of horrors’
[The News-Tribune 8/23/11 by Adam Lynn]

“The lawsuit alleges that the former foster parents, Jose and Juanita Miranda, were both on welfare and collecting disability payments when the state licensed them to operate a foster-care home between 1997 and 2003.”

“According to the lawsuit, DSHS approved Juanita Miranda as a foster parent despite a long history of drug use and criminal violations. Her own two biological children were taken from her by Child Protective Services in California because of drug use and neglect, and she was arrested in that state more than 50 times, the suit alleges.

The suit claims that Juanita Miranda was also under the supervision of Washington’s Department of Corrections when she was granted her foster-care license and that DSHS failed to revoke her license even after later receiving reports about her criminal history.

She was never charged with a crime in connection with the abuse, the lawsuit claims.

According to the lawsuit, the abuse began when the children were as young as 5 and continued through their teens.

Tacoma police began an investigation in 2005 after Jose Miranda confessed his crimes to a nurse while he was hospitalized, according to the suit.

Court documents indicate that Jose Miranda was charged in 2007 with three counts of first-degree child rape, two counts of first-degree child molestation and two counts of third-degree assault of a child.”
4 sue state over abusive Tacoma foster home
[Seattle Times 8/23/11 by Christine Clarridge]

“Johnston described the man as “a foster parent forcing kids to engage in just graphic sexual acts with him, and forcing the kids to engage with each other in graphic sexual acts.:

The newly-filed suit claims Juanita knew about the sex and did nothing to stop it, and she physically and mentally abused the foster kids. One girl told investigators the children were often locked in the basement and forced to wear diapers.

“She was forced to eat food that had expired. And on one occasion when she vomited from it, she was forced to eat her own vomit from the food,” Johnston said.”

“The youngest child, who is still a minor, is not a party in the suit.

The Mirandas’ own daughter may join the suit later this year, alleging she, too, was abused by her own parents, Johnston said. ”
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/128290148.html
[KOMO 8/23/11 by Keith Eldridge]

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Update: “The state has agreed to pay $11 million to resolve a lawsuit filed against the Department of Social and Health Services by six former foster children who say they were sexually and physically abused in a Tacoma home their lawyer described as a “house of horrors.”

The lawsuit had been scheduled to go to trial in federal court early next year, according to a statement released Tuesday by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that they had been abused over a period of years by Jose and Juanita Miranda in a foster home that never should have been licensed.

The plaintiffs also claimed that the state failed to fully investigate multiple complaints about the home and missed many opportunities to rescue the children.

“It was not a home. It was a house of horrors,” said Jeremy Johnston, an attorney for plaintiffs, when the lawsuit was filed last year.

DSHS said the case was settled to avoid the expense of a costly and complex trial and further stress for the plaintiffs.

“We regret that these children suffered at the hands of adults they had trusted to love and keep them safe,” said Denise Revels Robinson, the head of DSHS’s Children’s Administration.

Jose Miranda died in prison three years ago after he confessed to abusing his foster children and was convicted of three counts of first-degree child rape, two counts of first-degree child molestation and two counts of third-degree assault of a child.

His wife died of a drug overdose in a Tacoma park in 2006, court documents show.

Juanita Miranda had a history of drug use and criminal violations, court records show. She had been arrested more than 50 times and had lost custody of her own children while she was living in California, according to the suit. Further, she was under the supervision of Washington’s Department of Corrections when DSHS licensed her as a foster parent, the lawsuit alleged.

The lawsuit alleged that the children were routinely and repeatedly beaten, drugged and sexually assaulted in a padlocked room. They also were forced to wear diapers and to fake ailments to increase their foster-care benefits, the lawsuit claimed.

DSHS ignored years of complaints from social workers, guardians, teachers, neighbors, relatives, coaches, family friends, parents of the foster children and the children themselves, the lawsuit claimed.

DSHS said lessons learned from the Miranda case, as well as other cases of abuse and neglect, have sparked changes that focus on child safety.

For example, child-welfare investigators no longer rely on children’s word that they are not being abused or neglected, but instead must gather additional information from other sources. The department also now uses a standardized, automated statewide process to create more consistency in its response to allegations of abuse and neglect.

The process for placing children is now more formal and there is more collaboration between various state departments on matters that affect child safety, according to DSHS.

“Although nothing can change what happened in the home,” said department spokeswoman Chris Case, “DSHS believes that the agreement fairly compensates these individuals, who can use the proceeds to meet any special needs they may have in the future.”

DSHS settles Tacoma foster children’s abuse case for $11 million

[The Seattle Times 12/11/12 by Christina Clarridge]

Update 2: “A former foster child abused in three state-licensed foster homes after Washington child services workers took her from her drug-addicted mother has won a $1.3 million settlement with the state.

Suing the state last April, attorneys for the young woman claimed she was sexually assaulted at three foster homes after she was pulled from her mother’s care as a young child. Two of her former foster fathers have since been convicted of child molestation, as has one of her foster brothers.

Now, the state has agreed to pay the young woman and her attorneys $1.3 million in compensation for the damage done to her on the Department of Social and Health Services’ watch.

“Nothing was ever done to remotely ascertain if this child was in a safe home,” the woman’s attorneys said in a statement. She was represented by Vito de la Cruz, Bryan Smith and Sergio Garcidueñas-Sease of Tamaki Law Offices.

“Our client will finally have an opportunity for a safe and stable life, a life she always deserved,” Garcidueñas-Sease continued. “She endured pain that no one should ever endure, especially a foster child.”

A spokeswoman for the department’s Children’s Administration acknowledged that DSHS agreed to settle what she described as “a 10-year-old child abuse case.”

“Our intent is that the plaintiff … is able to use the settlement funds for any mental health treatment she may need stemming from the trauma she suffered at the hands of her perpetrators,” the spokeswoman said.

DSHS leaders did not apologize for the abuse the young woman, among others, suffered at the homes.

Born to drug-addicted, mentally ill parents, the girl became a ward of the state at age 4. DSHS reports from her time before foster care indicate she was living in a filthy home. One investigator found a kitchen sink filled with moldy dishes and a bed with a dead mouse on it.

She was first placed with Jose Miranda and his wife, Juanita. Jose Miranda would later become infamous for the sexual abuse he perpetrated on children during the nine years he was a foster father.

The Mirandas were licensed as foster parents even though Juanita Miranda’s own children had been taken from her while she was living in California. Having been convicted of crimes in Washington, Oregon and California, Juanita Miranda also tested positive for opiates while she was pregnant six years before the girl was placed with the couple.

According to the lawsuit, Juanita Miranda was under Department of Corrections supervision for a felony theft when she and her husband were approved as foster parents. Both lied to DSHS on questionnaires meant to prevent convicts, addicts and people too sick to care for children from becoming foster parents.

Speaking after the lawsuit was filed, a DSHS spokesman said foster parents now undergo an extensive background check. A history of criminal convictions or problematic court orders – such as losing custody of one’s children – prompts a second level of scrutiny by department leaders, who are unlikely to approve applicants with less than sterling records.

Attorneys for the young woman disputed the claim and argued that more must be done to protect Washington foster children.

“This case highlights a great need for change in a state foster system that is intrinsically broken,” Garcidueñas-Sease said.

The girl was placed with the Mirandas in March 1998. By May, the state was investigating problems with her care, and she was removed from the home that June.

During her three months in the home, Jose Miranda molested the girl, forced her to shower with him and made her wipe his behind when he soiled himself.

Six years passed before reports of sexual abuse at the home prompted an investigation that ultimately saw Jose Miranda convicted of child molestation and related crimes. Rather than prison, though, he received a suspended sentence.

Two years after his guilty plea, investigators learned Miranda had molested two other boys. He was then charged, convicted and sentenced to more than a decade in prison. He has since died, as has his wife.

The state paid $11 million to settle an earlier lawsuit brought by six children placed in the Miranda home. The allegations mirrored those brought in the young woman’s suit.

Release from the Mirandas’ care provided little respite for the girl, who was placed with a couple who had been allowed to maintain their foster-parent license despite numerous reports of abuse at the home. Having been certified in 1993, the couple’s license was revoked months after the girl left there in late 1998.

In their care, the girl was beaten and sexually assaulted, according to the lawsuit. Her attorneys do not contend the couple was behind the sexual abuse, though they note the state received numerous reports of sexual behavior by other foster children at the home.

From there, the girl was passed to the Rosenfelts, a Pierce County couple. It was in their home that she was sexually assaulted by both her adoptive father, Lavern Rosenfelt, and his son, Travis.

“The state did what it had repeatedly done to (her) throughout her life – betray her,” de la Cruz said in a statement.

The abuse was first reported to authorities in early 2007 after the girl, then 13, went to a school counselor with allegations of sexual assault. Investigators later learned her adoptive mother had been aware of the sexual abuse for years but did nothing to stop it.

Lavern Rosenfelt was charged with child molestation in June 2007 and was prohibited from having contact with the girl. Nonetheless, the girl’s adoptive mother allowed him to visit daily and eat dinner with the family. The woman later wrote letters to the Pierce County Superior Court judge who sentenced her husband, urging that he be spared prison.

For his part, Rosenfelt described himself as the girl’s “papa,” and placed blame on the girl, saying she suggested that he walk around nude in front of his adolescent adopted children. While he ultimately pleaded guilty, court records show he continued to defend his behavior even after admitting to the molestations.

In the end, despite his apparent shortage of remorse, Lavern Rosenfelt avoided prison time. Then 19, Travis Rosenfelt was also spared prison after pleading guilty to assault charges. Interviewed by court staff, he denied any wrongdoing; the interviewer described him as being in “complete denial” and without empathy for his victims.

Lavern Rosenfelt has since died, while his son lives in Enumclaw.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle approved the settlement on March 5. The lawsuit is expected to be dismissed in the coming weeks.”

Foster child sexually abused on state’s watch wins $1.3M settlement [Seattle Post-Intelligencer 3/16/15 by Levi PULKKINEN]

Update 3:“The sister of a young woman who was paid $1.3 million to settle her claims of abuse in state foster care has sued the state, saying she, too, suffered sexual assaults and beatings while a ward of Washington.

The woman, now 20 and living in Moses Lake, seeks unspecified damages in her lawsuit, which was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.

The woman, identified in court records as L.R., contends she was subjected to myriad abuses in three foster homes in Pierce County after being made a ward of the state in 1998.

She says state officials failed to properly vet the foster homes and ignored warning signs of abuse at each stop, including a stay with Jose and Juanita Miranda of Tacoma.

The Mirandas ultimately were found to have systematically abused foster children in their care, and Jose Miranda was convicted of multiple sex crimes against foster kids.

The state in 2012 agreed to pay $11 million to six people who had the misfortune to be placed with the couple.

The latest lawsuit contends L.R. was exposed to “physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental abuse, neglect and … intolerable living conditions.”

The complaint was filed on her behalf by Yakima attorney Vito de la Cruz, who also represented her sister.

It is the policy of the Department of Social and Health Services to refrain from commenting on pending litigation, and state lawyers have not yet formally responded to the newly filed lawsuit.

In her sister’s case, state lawyers argued the perpetrators of the abuse, not state social workers, were responsible for any damages. But the state agreed to settle the case in April, court records show.”