Lawsuit:HeartShare/St. Vincent’s UPDATED

“A preteen girl and her sisters endured years of sexual assaults and abuse at the hands of a member of their foster family — and the city-contracted agency that placed them ignored their cries for help, according to a $21 million lawsuit filed Tuesday.

“CB,” now 18, says she and her two sisters were assigned to foster mom Jovonne Gorham by St. Vincent’s Services in October 2008. CB’s younger brother joined them at the Hancock St. apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant soon after, according to the suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court.

But Gorham soon sent the girls to live with her father, Joseph Gorham, in his Red Hook Houses apartment, rather than at the address approved by St. Vincent’s, so she could maximize foster care payments, the lawsuit charges.

The girls were made to sleep on air mattresses in the same room as the then-59-year-old predator, who repeatedly forced them to have sexual intercourse, anal sex and oral sex, according to the suit.

Gorham, now 65, was charged on Nov. 9, 2015 with sex conduct against a child under the age of 13 and other counts.

According to a Brooklyn criminal complaint, between Oct. 30, 2008, and Sept. 30, 2009, Joseph Gorham repeatedly sexually assaulted three girls, then aged 9, 10 and 12. He was released on $50,000 bond.

St. Vincent’s and the city ignored red flags indicating improprieties and abuse and failed to properly check on the kids once they were placed in foster care, according to the suit. Additionally, CB says she told various people about the alleged sexual abuse and living in a different apartment from the approved home. She claims both the city and St. Vincent’s “were informed” but did nothing, the suit says.

It wasn’t until Jovonne Gorham’s husband returned home from prison — where he served 17 years for manslaughter — that St. Vincent’s intervened. It revoked Jovonne Gorham’s license as a foster mother and moved the siblings to another home, but then reinstated her shortly after.

St. Vincent’s and the city sent the siblings back to Jovonne Gorham and allowed her to get permanent guardianship in December 2012. The agency and the city stopped “their already inadequate supervision,” according to court papers.

After Jovonne Gorham received guardianship, she “immediately moved” the siblings to Virginia for six months, where they didn’t have enough food or water. The foster mom moved them back to the abusive Red Hook household, where 12 people packed a two-bedroom apartment, the suit alleges.

In October 2014, Jovonne Gorham kicked the girls out of the apartment, says CB, who went to the police. Cops reported the alleged mistreatment to ACS.

The kids weren’t given a new, permanent foster home until early 2015, the suit claims.

CB’s lawyer, Bruce A. Young, said his client’s ordeal is characteristic of problems in the city’s foster system.

“There’s a pattern of the city’s failure to oversee private foster care agencies,” Young said. “Critical here was that when CB was put in this home, there wasn’t followup and the foster mother moved her and her sisters to a different location than the home that was certified.”

“That’s where this abuse occurred — and was apparent,” Young told The News.

The city Law Department said it hadn’t seen any of the legal papers, but “all the allegations will be reviewed once we are served.”

St. Vincent’s, now called HeartShare/St. Vincent’s, couldn’t be reached for comment.

At the elder Gorham’s apartment Tuesday night, his wife defended the alleged pervert and said his accuser was to blame.

“He’s my husband and of course he would have never done anything like that,” said Barbara Gorham, 64. “She’s a troubled girl. It’s pretty sick. She’s pretty sick. We haven’t seen her in years.””

Former foster child alleges she was sexually assaulted for years, city ignored cries for help in $21M suit  [NY Daily News 3/30/16 by Kerry Burke, Christina Carrega-Woodby and Victoria Bekiempis]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “City social workers “ignored” evidence two twins endured forced oral sex in the same Brooklyn foster family where a preteen girl and her sisters also suffered years of sex abuse, new court papers claim.

The new court filings contain detailed allegations ACS investigators closed their inquiry into alleged sexual abuse by Joseph Gorham without even interviewing him.

In November 2008, Administration for Children’s Services investigators pursued a report of suspected maltreatment in foster mom Jovonne Gorham’s home.

The narrative in the newly revealed report stated: “On a regular basis Jovonne (foster mother) allows her foster children… (twins) M and J to have contact with her father (Joseph Gorham). ”

The report continued: “In the past, the foster children were made to perform oral sex on the foster mother’s father. This ongoing contact places the children at risk of harm.”

When it came to providing investigators Joseph Gorham’s contact info, Jovonne “evaded” their requests, claiming “she did not know where her father lived,” the report said.

A supervisor ultimately reviewed the “incomplete” findings and decided the allegations were unfounded — despite the fact ACS never interviewed Joseph Gorham, the suit says.

Around the same time, St. Vincent’s Services, now known as HeartShare, placed now 19-year-old “CB” and her two sisters into Jovonne Gorham’s care. Their younger brother joined them shortly thereafter at Gorham’s Hancock St. apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Gorham then sent the girls to live with her dad in his Red Hook Houses apartment — which was not the home approved by St. Vincent’s, an ongoing Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit charges.

The girls had to sleep on air mattresses next to him, and the then-59-year-old forced them time and time again to have sexual relations with him, according to the $21 million suit.

Gorham, now 65, was hit with sex abuse charges on Nov. 9, 2015, including sex conduct against a child under the age of 13, stemming from the girls’ allegations.

Gorham maintains he is innocent, his lawyer in the criminal case said

The original civil complaint, filed in March by lawyer Bruce Young, accused St. Vincent’s/HeartShare and the Administration of Children’s Services of ignoring signs of abuse.

ACS said it can’t comment on ongoing litigation, but it is “reviewing the amended complaint.”

HeartShare did not respond to requests for comment.”

EXCLUSIVE: ACS workers accused of ignoring signs that twins were forced to give oral sex to foster mom’s father[NY Daily News 10/26/16 by Victoria Bekiempis]