Lawsuit Seeking Damages for New York City Foster Care Children Goes to Trial

PRESS RELEASE

Martin A. v. Giuliani to determine if city must pay damages to children in six cases, including infants with AIDS denied proper care and siblings for whom CWA has plan to return to home where brother was killed by parent.

Justice Joan Lobis of New York State Supreme Court, Trial Assignment Part 20, will hear opening arguments in the case Martin A. v. Giuliani on Wednesday, May 15, at 2:00 PM. The suit, brought by Children's Rights, Inc., seeks monetary damages from the City of New York for children from six different families who were abused while in foster care, denied protection from abusive parents, and/or denied other legally mandated services. Six separate trials will be held, one for the children in each family.

The first case to be tried is the D. Family, in which two children, Juan and Julie, under age 2, lived with their grandmother and were diagnosed as HIV positive. CWA provided no services to help the grandmother care for the children and, as a result, the children were forced to leave the only home they would ever know. CWA sent the children to an institution for adolescent boys, where the girl was physically abused, and then to a foster mother who continued to abuse the children and failed to provide the critically ill infants with medical care. The boy, Juan, died at age 3 before he was able to return to his grandmother's care.

The second case to be tried is the G. Family, in which three siblings of a five-year old boy who was killed by his father are still in foster care with plans to return home to their mother who was convicted of assaulting the five-year old boy. The father is eligible for release from prison in 1997.

The trial for Martin A. v. Giuliani will take place in Courtroom 345, New York State Supreme Court, 60 Center Street, New York City. Attorneys for plaintiffs will be Mark Peters, Martha Stone, and Rebecca Kimura of Children's Rights. Attorney for defendant, the City of New York, will be the Corporation Counsel. Each trial is expected to take two to three weeks for the jury to reach a verdict.

Children's Rights works throughout the United States in partnership with national and local experts, advocates and government officials to document the needs of children in the care of child welfare systems. Children's Rights helps develop realistic solutions and, where necessary, uses the power of litigation to ensure that reform takes place.