Kansas girl was locked in room and sexually assaulted by foster parent: Lawsuit
A Kansas girl was sexually assaulted by a foster parent that the state’s largest foster care contractor recruited, according to a lawsuit filed last month in Wyandotte County.
The Feb. 24 complaint filed by the girl’s legally appointed guardian is the third that month to accuse KVC Kansas of putting a child in an unsafe home, according to Wyandotte County District Court records.
The lawsuit alleges KVC placed an adolescent with a man unable to provide safe housing, as he had a history of legal troubles related to traffic violations and a precarious immigration status. He is also accused of sexually assaulting the young girl when she was 14.
The Star generally does not name victims of sexual assault without their permission. It is not naming the man because he is not currently charged in the sexual assault.
KVC placed the girl on July 20, 2021 in a Parsons, Kansas, foster home, where the man was frequently intoxicated, according to the lawsuit. Parsons is about 148 miles south of Kansas City.
He treated her like an adult, the lawsuit said, allowing her to drive his car without a license or permission from her parents.
“[The man] groomed [her], a young vulnerable minor child, by attempting to earn her trust, taking a lot of unusual interest in her,” the lawsuit said.
While drunk, he allegedly tried to molest her multiple times.
On Sept. 20, the young girl missed school to accompany the man to his “shop,” the lawsuit said.
He allegedly locked her inside and sexually assaulted the girl, who was 14 at the time.
She reported the incident and was removed from the home, but has yet to receive the “appropriate mental health treatment,” the lawsuit said.
By April 2022, the teen’s third year in foster care, she was moved between homes more than 28 times. She still has not received consistent mental health and education services.
KVC is accused of subjecting her to insecure housing without the proper support and endangering her by recruiting unsuitable foster parents.
The lawsuit is seeking $75,000 in damages.
The plaintiff’s attorney was not immediately available for comment.
In the previous Feb. 6 lawsuit filed against KVC, the contractor is accused of placing a months-old baby in a “dangerously overcrowded” foster home, where her head was seriously injured.
Another lawsuit filed Feb. 15 accused KVC of placing a 16-year-old girl with a single man who often “exercised a severe lack of judgment toward female children.” The young girl also allegedly suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her foster parent.
The Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) runs fingerprints and background checks on each potential foster parent, according to KVC Kansas spokeswoman Jenny Kutz.
DCF also keeps a list of “prohibited offenses” which disqualify a foster parent from maintaining a license. A 2018 list provided by Kutz indicated that none of the man’s prior charges would have kept him from obtaining a foster care license.
A spokesman at DCF was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
Kutz did not respond to additional questions Wednesday.
