Do I have a case against the state of WA?

[yokostars]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington (I now live in MN though).

I struggle with a lot of emotional problems that have, over the course of my life have manifested themselves into physical issues that make every day life difficult. I manage these issues with the help of medical professionals, but there's only so much that medicine can do.

When I was a child, I was taken away from my biological mother (she's severely mentally ill) and put into the foster care system after short stays with aunts and uncles. After a year in foster care, the state of Washington contacted my father, who abandoned my mother and I when I was a small baby, who has multiple felony warrants for his arrest in the state of Washington and other states for drug abuse, violence, and theft. They told him that I was in foster care and asked him if he'd be willing to "make good" on his parental obligations and assume custody of me. He did, so when I was nine, I met my father for the first time and in the same day began living with him for four hellish years. These years were filled with drug abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. During this stent, the state of Michigan took me from my father and again placed me in foster care. A year passed, and an aunt in Washington state adopted me when I was 13.

Do I have a case against the system of Washington state for placing me in danger as a child that are now causing me mental and physical distress, or am I whining too much?

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington (I now live in MN though).

I struggle with a lot of emotional problems that have, over the course of my life have manifested themselves into physical issues that make every day life difficult. I manage these issues with the help of medical professionals, but there's only so much that medicine can do.

When I was a child, I was taken away from my biological mother (she's severely mentally ill) and put into the foster care system after short stays with aunts and uncles. After a year in foster care, the state of Washington contacted my father, who abandoned my mother and I when I was a small baby, who has multiple felony warrants for his arrest in the state of Washington and other states for drug abuse, violence, and theft. They told him that I was in foster care and asked him if he'd be willing to "make good" on his parental obligations and assume custody of me. He did, so when I was nine, I met my father for the first time and in the same day began living with him for four hellish years. These years were filled with drug abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. During this stent, the state of Michigan took me from my father and again placed me in foster care. A year passed, and an aunt in Washington state adopted me when I was 13.

Do I have a case against the system of Washington state for placing me in danger as a child that are now causing me mental and physical distress, or am I whining too much?

Generally not unless they knew that he was unfit to parent beforehand. How many convictions were there and what were they for?

And how old are you now?

 

[yokostars]

I'd have to get a report to know exactly, but my aunt says that it was brought up in court during my father's custody hearing. I'm 25 now.

 

[Proserpina]

I'd have to get a report to know exactly, but my aunt says that it was brought up in court during my father's custody hearing. I'm 25 now.

What I'm really getting at is that generally speaking, to be held responsible, CPS would have had to have known the your father was abusive and a danger before you were placed with him.

You'll need to find out if there were any convictions, what they were for and when they happened.

Even a multiple felon can have custody of his children - being a deadbeat is not always going to mean losing parental rights. It would seem that at the time your father was your legal parent and the state may not have had much choice about placement; they would usually need a reason to justify not giving the child to his/her legal parent.

There is also a statute of limitations issue - you would only have a certain time in which to file a suit. Because these allegations concern you as a minor, the statute of limitations would not start ticking until your 18th birthday; as you're 25 now you might be too late, but I do want to check further on that.