Rescued Turpin Siblings Sue Over 'Severe Abuse And Neglect' In Foster Care

Lydia O'Connor
·3 min read
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Six of the Turpin siblings, who escaped a life of extraordinary abuse and neglect in their parents’ captivity in 2018, filed a lawsuit late Tuesday accusing county and foster care officials of knowingly placing them with more abusive guardians after their rescue.

The allegations against California’s Riverside County and ChildNet, a private foster care agency, are deeply disturbing.

The couple and their adult daughter that the siblings were placed with, the lawsuit alleges, had a known history of perverse abuse allegations against them and tormented the Turpin children once they were in their care, including by sexually assaulting them, pulling their hair, hitting them with belts, striking them on their heads, and denying them food, then force-feeding them until they threw up and making them eat their own vomit.

They were also subjected to what amounts to psychological torture, the lawsuit claims, including the foster family telling them they were worthless and unlovable, instructing them on how they should kill themselves, preventing them from speaking to their siblings, forcing them to sit outside for hours alone, making them watch their abuse of other foster children, and forcing them to sit in a circle and recount their abusive childhood experiences.

The plaintiffs also say their foster parents, who are referred to in the lawsuit as Mr. and Mrs. O, would threaten to return them to their biological parents, who were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019 for the abuse and imprisonment of their 13 children.

Neither ChildNet nor Riverside County’s Department of Public Social Services, which oversees foster care in the county, immediately responded to HuffPost’s request for comment.

At least one of the minors in the foster family’s care told social workers for the county and foster care agency that they were being abused, and begged for help, the lawsuit states, but none came for years.

David Allen Turpin (left) and Louise Anna Turpin were sentenced to life imprisonment for the abuse of their children. (Photo: via Associated Press)
David Allen Turpin (left) and Louise Anna Turpin were sentenced to life imprisonment for the abuse of their children. (Photo: via Associated Press)

David Allen Turpin (left) and Louise Anna Turpin were sentenced to life imprisonment for the abuse of their children. (Photo: via Associated Press)

“Defendants had a duty to protect plaintiffs, but instead protected Mr. and Mrs. O by failing to report the abuse and neglect of plaintiffs to Child Protective Services or to law enforcement and by failing to intervene and interfere when abuse and neglect was reported by others,” the lawsuit argues. “Defendants allowed plaintiffs to remain in the home for three years” until an investigation by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department led to the arrests of the parents and their adult daughter on numerous child abuse charges.

“By then, plaintiffs had suffered physical and psychological injuries and severe emotional distress as a result of three years of abuse and neglect,” the lawsuit says. “These injuries were particularly severe because plaintiffs were in a very vulnerable state to begin with.”

The Turpin siblings had nearly no contact with the outside world until one of them, then-17-year-old Jordan Turpin, made a daring escape from their home in Perris, California, and sought help from police. In her parents’ home, investigators said, she and her siblings were starved to the point of malnourishment, allowed only one shower a year, shackled to their beds for weeks at a time, beaten and tortured.

Jordan and her sister Jennifer spoke out about their experience in an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer last year.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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