Compensation for abuse while in foster care
For free legal guidance on making a claim for compensation for abuse while in foster care call freephone 0333 888 0445 in complete confidence or email brief details to us at [email protected]
Local councils are heavily reliant on the foster care network. According to official figures more than 65,000 children in the UK now live with foster families. This represents almost 80% of the total number of children in care.
Foster families provide an invaluable service to society, offering vulnerable children a loving and stable home life that allows them to feel safe and to thrive.
There are countless children whose lives have been transformed by foster care. After a tough start to life, children placed with foster families have been given a springboard to go on and enjoy hugely successful lives. However, as with other walks of life abuse does sometimes take place within a foster family setting.
The system is much more regulated these days. Families are more carefully vetted at the outset and ongoing checks and reviews are more vigorous than they were years ago. We are now much more aware of the risk of abuse, but when adults are intent on preying on vulnerable children that risk can never be fully eliminated.
When abuse does occur then the victim is entitled to make a compensation claim and we are here to help them access justice. We have a track record of success and you can read all about one of our vicories in this foster care case study.
Anyone who suffered abuse while in foster care decades ago will also still be entitled to claim compensation. We deal with ‘historic’ abuse cases relating to events that have occurred many years previously.
Victims are frequently reluctant to come forward, often mistakenly thinking that they were somehow to blame for the abuse that has occurred or simply because they are worried about the impact it will have on the wider family unit. But while the courts generally impose strict time limits on people claiming compensation, those rules can be relaxed for victims of abuse, so if there has been delay, do not let that deter you.
For those who suffer abuse while in foster care it is important to seek legal advice from a specialist lawyer. The law regulating the responsibilities owed by local authorities to children in foster care are constantly developing, particularly since an important court decision in 2017.
It is now accepted that a local authority will be “vicariously liable” for abuse committed by foster parents, even where the local authority was not negligent in choosing or supervising those foster carers.
The ruling applies to historic abuse cases as well as recent ones.