Adults who grew up in Illinois foster care often carry worries that keep them from asking about a claim. Will people find out? What if I cannot remember it all? Will one phone call start something I cannot stop? Each of these has a clear answer.
First, the basics. You do not need to have reported the abuse, and nobody needs to have been charged. A civil claim asks what DCFS or a licensed private agency knew, what it should have known, and what it did. Attorney Ervin Nevitt, a partner at Coplan + Crane (Illinois bar registration 6319808, admitted 2014), reviews these cases.
Your name can be protected
Steps can be taken to protect your identity in the court record. We explain those steps before anything is filed. And if you decide not to go ahead, what you told us stays confidential.
Your memory does not need to be complete
Remembering only part of what happened is ordinary. These cases are built from institutional records rather than from a complete account. The agency that made the placement kept files on the home and on its own decisions.
A call commits you to nothing
Nothing is set in motion by asking a question. You speak with a person, not a form or an intake script, and you do not have to describe what happened in order to have the conversation.
What a claim actually looks at
A foster placement is made by an agency that is supposed to have checked it. When a child is harmed there, the claim asks what the agency knew about the home, what checks it made, and what it did when a concern was raised.
These foster abuse claims are usually brought against DCFS or a licensed private agency, not only against the individual. Negligent placement is the theory that most often carries them, though several typically run together, and which one fits depends on your facts. The responsible body may be the State, through DCFS, or a private agency under contract with DCFS. Identifying which made and supervised the placement is the first thing to check.
Where DCFS placed the child, the claim goes against the State in the Illinois Court of Claims, with its own filing requirements and damages limits. Where a private licensed agency placed the child, the claim goes against that agency in the ordinary courts.
Common Questions Around Reaching Out
Do I need a police report? No. A civil claim requires no police report, no charge, and no conviction. Most people we speak with never reported.
Does the review cost anything? Looking into who had a duty, what it knew, and what records exist costs you nothing.
What if I decide not to continue? That is the end of it, and what you told us stays confidential.
What happens next
We look into which institution was responsible, what it knew, what records exist, and whether a claim can still be brought. Then we tell you plainly what is possible. If you go ahead, we carry the filings, deadlines, records, and the institution's insurers.
Call (708) 671-6858 for a free, confidential case review.
