On Tuesday, 26 women filed a lawsuit against the state of Maryland and some of its agencies, alleging they were sexually assaulted when they were children at Good Shepherd Services. It was a state-run juvenile detention facility and residential treatment center that housed children with behavioral issues, as well as foster care youth. It operated until 2017.
The Departments of Health, Human Services, and Juvenile Services have all also been listed as defendants.
All 26 plaintiffs are going by their initials only.
A second lawsuit, with similar complaints, was also filed today by a separate law firm on behalf of 13 additional plaintiffs.
“The sexual assault of vulnerable teenagers by state employees is horrific, but the fact clergy were also complicit is one of the many truly sickening aspects of what transpired at Good Shepherd Services,” the law firm wrote in a press release.
“Children reported being raped and even drugged by staff members at the place where they were forced to live. Because of their negligence, the State failed to protect and provide the most basic right to the children of Maryland – safety.”
This legal avenue is now available to these Marylanders because of the Maryland Child Victims Act signed into law on April 11, 2023.
It allows survivors to file retroactive lawsuits, even if their claims already expired under an existing statute of limitations.
This led to many claims against the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which then declared bankruptcy.All claims against the Archdiocese need to be submitted by the end of May 2024.
The complaint, filed by attorneys at Slater Slater Schulman, alleges that the victims were between 12 and 18 years old during the abuse and were in the custody of the State and its agencies.
"As the complaint states, the State was aware of - and failed to take action to prevent - the sexual abuse perpetrated against children by staff members and clergy working at the facility, including both priests and nuns," the law firm writes in its press release.
All three departments named in the lawsuit released the following joint statement:
The State has not been served with the lawsuit yet. However, the Departments of Health, Human Services and Juvenile Services work to ensure the safety and well-being of all children and youth placed in state care. We take allegations of sexual abuse of children in our care seriously.
