"Indifferent [towards] Indifference:" Post-DeShaney Accountability for Social Services
Abstract
As Justice Blackmun lamented in the case of "Poor Joshua, so must we as a nation lament over the plight of our most vulnerable citizens: abused and neglected children. They often suffer at the hands of those who should protect them. First, their parents or caretakers become their abusers, thus failing them horribly and often brutally. Next, the system, designed to protect them, to remove them from harms way, fails to step in. Then, after the unthinkable happens, the court fails them as well by failing to recognize that they have a constitutional right to be safe from physical harm. If reform of the system is to happen, deliberate indifference to child abuse cannot be tolerated among those whose job it is to prevent further abuse. The Court should recognize that such deliberate indifference is a violation of the child's rights, no matter if the child is in state or parental custody. Given the current disagreement among federal courts, the Court should review these issues and decide under what circumstances children have a right to personal safety. In such a review, the Supreme Court Should hold that the DeShaney ruling applies only to the special relationship doctrine, and therefore, liability for failure to protect children not in state custody is allowed under the state created danger doctrine. Alternatively, the Court should overrule DeShaney's harsh limitation on liability, and therefore allow for liability under either doctrine regardless of whether a child is in state custody, so long as the deliberate indifference standard is met. (Author Text)
Description
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Article
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Keywords
child abuse, child fatality, law, review
Citation
Watts, C. D. (2012). " Indifferent [towards] Indifference:" Post-DeShaney Accountability for Social Services Agencies When a Child is Injured or Killed Under Their Protective Watch. Pepperdine Law Review, 30(1), 125-159.