Left in Harm’s Way

A NEW LAWSUIT has been leveled at the state’s Department of
Human Services (DHS), after the agency removed a four-year-old girl
from her parents’ home in 1993 and placed her in a home with a
convicted rapist. She endured years of rape from David Purcell, her
grandmother’s husband, before coming forward about the abuse in 1999,
when she was 10 years old.

The victim, a woman known only as “B.D.” in this week’s suit, is
claiming $5.25 million in damages from DHS and the two caseworkers
(named “Doe I” and “Doe II” in the complaint) for their role in placing
her in an abusive situation. Unfortunately, the storyline is starting
to sound familiar.

Such screw-ups have happened before—this year the department
settled out of court in a suit involving six special-needs infants and
toddlers who were removed from a neglectful foster home. A DHS report
on the incident found a “lack of ongoing assessment of the functioning
of [the foster family]” and “lack of face-to-face contact by the foster
care certifier, and insufficient documentation during the
recertification process.”

“We’re making an effort to address deficiencies,” says DHS
spokesperson Gene Evans, citing a recent legislative approval for 130
more staff members and new rules that require certification workers to
walk through all rooms of the foster home and perform unannounced
visits. “These are kids that we have a responsibility for, and we’ve
got to make sure they’re safe and protected.”

DHS isn’t commenting on B.D.’s suit, and referred questions to Tony
Green at the Department of Justice, who also did not comment on the
specifics. But Green cautioned against comparing this case to previous
ones, saying that the factual differences between cases are frequently
more significant than the similarities.

Nevertheless, similarities are there, most notably the fact that
children in both cases were put in harmful situations by the agency
charged with protecting them. B.D.’s complaint against DHS says the two
caseworkers had “constructive knowledge” about Purcell’s past
convictions, which included a 1980 conviction for raping his
14-year-old daughter and a 1987 conviction of rape and sodomy against a
stepdaughter.

“They should have known,” says Kelly Clark, the attorney
representing B.D.

Clark has been representing abuse victims for the past 10 years, and
while he’s seen changes in private institutions like the Catholic
Church, he says public systems haven’t been subjected to the same kind
of attention.

“If it has to be done because they’re afraid of liability or afraid
of bad publicity, I don’t really care. I want them to do the right
thing,” Clark says.

The fact that B.D. came forward about the abuse is exceptional.
According to Child Sexual Abuse Stops Here, an Oregon nonprofit, 88
percent of child abuse never gets reported. As for Purcell, he
currently resides at Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla,
serving time for his abuse of B.D. He’s scheduled to stay there until
2049.