CALIFORNIA FOSTER CARE SEXUAL ABUSE LAWSUITS

Fighting for Survivors of Sexual Abuse in California Foster Care & Group Homes

Levy Konigsberg is investigating sexual abuse claims where foster children were allegedly harmed by providers or agencies in California foster homes.

Foster homes are meant to provide care and shelter for vulnerable children; unfortunately, some children experience abuse in the very homes and at the hands of the very people who are supposed to protect them. Foster care systems in California, including those managed by various county agencies and private foster family agencies, are legally mandated to provide safe, supervised environments for minors who have been removed from their biological families. However, numerous legal filings suggest a systemic failure to protect these vulnerable youth from predators, physical violence, and unsafe living conditions. Cases often involve foster parents or staff members who allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct or severe neglect while the responsible agencies failed to conduct proper oversight or investigate reports of harm. These lawsuits seek to hold accountable the governmental entities and private organizations that are tasked with the welfare and safety of foster children throughout California.

If you or a loved one was harmed, contact us today.

High-Profile Payouts Illustrate How Survivors Can Use Civil Suits to Secure Justice

A number of high-profile legal filings, settlements, and verdicts have illustrated how government-operated foster care systems, private programs, and other responsible entities can be held liable for failures to protect foster children who are sexually abused. These cases have served an important purpose in highlighting systemic issues within foster care systems and have shown how survivors can harness the power of the civil justice system to secure the compensation they deserve.

Some examples include:

• In March 2026, Fresno County and Proteus Foster Family Agency in California agreed to pay $2.5 million in settlement to three victims who alleged officials failed to protect them from repeated sexual abuse by a foster parent.

The victims were allegedly subjected to repeated sexual abuse by their foster father while living in a foster home in Fresno County between 2014 and 2016, when they were between 9 and 13 years old.

In 2015, an older sibling allegedly discovered a journal describing the abuse and gave it to a social worker. The victims were questioned about the allegations in front of the foster parents and denied the abuse out of fear. No forensic exam or medical evaluation was conducted.

Fresno County social workers allegedly failed to conduct routine private face-to-face meetings with the children outside the supervision of the foster parents, as required.

The victims were also allegedly deprived of adequate food and clothing.

• In February 2026, Riverside County, California, and the foster care agency ChildNet agreed to a $13.5 million settlement with six siblings who alleged they were abused after being placed in a foster home in 2018. 

The victims were subjected to physical and emotional abuse while living in the foster home with the Olguin family. They were allegedly hit, forced to eat their own vomit, and made to repeatedly recount the trauma they experienced in their parents’ home.

• In May 2023, it was reported that Sacramento County had been housing children in foster care in cells in the Warren E. Thornton (WET) Youth Center, a former juvenile detention facility, for six months, in violation of state law.  Despite letters from state officials warning that the physical space of the unlicensed facility could retraumatize or trigger youth, and that housing foster children in a jail-like facility violates the youth’s right to live in a comfortable home, county officials did not move the children out of the facility and instead asked the state for a license to continue housing children in the facility while they await placement.  During a site visit in August 2022, state officials reportedly observed children sleeping in cells with metal bunk beds and toilets covered with wood, and other cells were converted into bathrooms with metal toilets.  Prior to living in the facility, the county reportedly had the children awaiting placement living in a county office building.  In June 2023, it was reported that a lawsuit forced county officials into five years of court supervision to address the systemic failures that led to the illegal placements.

In April 2023, a lawsuit was filed alleging a 14-year-old housed at the facility was sex trafficked and forced into sex work while there.

• In December 2023, a jury awarded nearly $25 million to three siblings who were allegedly sexually abused by their foster parent, Mark Zapata Martinez.  The jury apportioned most of the fault to the Santa Rosa-based Alternative Family Services, the agency that placed the children in Martinez’s home.  The jury found that Alternative Family Services was liable for 60% of the settlement, Mark Martinez for 35%, and his wife, Martha Martinez, for 5%. According to the attorney who represented the three children, Alternative Family Services failed to properly approve and supervise the Martinez foster home.

• In October 2022, it was reported that the San Bernardino County Department of Children and Family Services (CFS) had been sued in at least four lawsuits stemming from alleged physical and sexual abuse of foster children, and resulting in more than $10 million through two settlements and one jury verdict.  In December 2016, the first lawsuit was filed alleging that the county, CFS, and two employees retaliated against social worker and whistleblower Eric Bahra. Bahra allegedly reported that CFS negligently placed 54 foster children in the home of a known serial child molester, Leonardo Rodriguez. The jury awarded Bahra $2.5 million in damages. The second lawsuit was filed on behalf of five of the 54 children placed in Rodriguez’s foster home. In the third lawsuit, the county settled for $7.5 million in a case alleging that CFS covered up an older foster child’s abuse of the younger sibling from the adoptive parents before the adoption of both children. In September 2015, a fourth lawsuit was filed alleging that the county retaliated against social worker and whistleblower Mary Anna Whitehall when Whitehall claimed the County of San Bernardino was involved in fraud upon the court, the cover up of child abuse within its foster care program, and retaliation against whistleblowers.

• In October 2018, Riverside County settled for $11 million with two victims of child abuse stemming from botched investigations by the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) and the county’s failure to protect the victims from abuse. A $10 million settlement was awarded to one of the plaintiffs who was allegedly raped and impregnated by her mother’s live-in boyfriend after the county’s child protection staff closed their investigation, deeming it inconclusive.. A $1.375 million settlement was awarded to another plaintiff after DPSS staff allegedly did not remove her from obviously horrific living conditions.

• In November 2016, a California foster care agency paid $4 million to settle a lawsuit on behalf of two grade school children who alleged that the agency placed a sexual predator in their foster home who sexually abused them for over six months and who had a history of molesting younger boys.

• In August 2010, a $30 million settlement was awarded to a male victim who was sexually abused by foster parent John Hardy Jackson from December 1995 to March 1999, starting when the victim was 11 years old. Jackson was accused of sexually abusing children, physically abusing his wife and biological son, and struggling with substance abuse and legal issues.  The private foster family agency, Giarretto Institute, was held liable for 75% of the settlement, and Jackson for 25%. When children in Jackson’s care said he was sexually abusing them, the Giarretto Institute was reportedly responsible for investigating the allegations. All of them were allegedly dismissed as untrue. In 2006, Jackson was convicted in Santa Clara County of nine counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child by force, violence, duress, menace and fear and seven counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child under 14, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.

Do I Have a Case?

You may have grounds to file a civil legal action if you were sexually abused in a foster care home.

As civil claims, these cases are separate from any criminal proceedings that may arise from abuse and focus instead on holding institutions liable for damages. This means you may still have a claim even if:

• Your abuser is no longer alive.
• Your abuser was never charged with or convicted of a crime.

Recoverable Damages in Sexual Abuse Claims

In addition to providing accountability and a sense of justice, civil sex abuse lawsuits allow survivors to recover financial compensation for their damages, which may include:

• Past medical and mental health expenses
• Future mental health expenses, including therapy, medications, etc.
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional anguish and psychological harm
• Lost income
• Other economic and non-economic damages

California Sexual Abuse Statute of Limitations

Sexual abuse lawsuits, like other claims brought by plaintiffs who seek damages for injuries, are subject to a legal deadline known as the statute of limitations. When the statute of limitations expires, victims are not able to file claims or recover compensation.

Fortunately, California has recognized that the statute of limitations can act as a barrier to justice for sexual abuse survivors, which research has shown can take years or decades to come to terms with their abuse and the damages it had caused. As such, California passed the Child Victims Act in 2019 to extend the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits.

Under the CA Child Victims Act

• Survivors sexually abused as minors can file claims until age 40 (22 years after turning 18).

Levy Konigsberg is actively investigating allegations of sexual abuse at any California foster home.

We are here for survivors of sexual abuse in foster care—listening, supporting, and fighting for justice. Every child deserves safety, and we are committed to holding those who failed them accountable while working toward a future where no child has to endure such pain.