Los Angeles (KNX) - Los Angeles County is preparing to pay billions of dollars to settle lawsuits stemming from the molestation and sexual abuse of children in county-run facilities.
While the magnitude of the payout is staggering, these cases demonstrate that sexual abuse of children went unaddressed on multiple levels for decades in LA County facilities, including - foster homes, juvenile probation camps, and children's shelters.
Doug Rochen, an attorney with ACTS Law, represents more than 500 alleged victims of sexual abuse. He tells KNX News, "This is a catastrophic calamity of events that has been taking place for the last 50-plus years." Doug and the plaintiffs hope that the process will prompt the county to fix the "broken system."
Doug notes that resources for children to report abuse are scarce, and even if they did file complaints, those complaints would often go unanswered and, in some cases, "would be torn up in front of them."
Some of Doug's clients have reported being threatened with physical violence or having time added to their term if they attempted to make complaints.
Doug believes that even though there may be little that can be done for the kids already impacted, LA County has a responsibility to fix the system for the sake of future children.
He suggests that fixing such a pervasive issue will require "a significant overhaul" of how the county processes and supervises the children and how it hires employees.
Listen to the whole conversation below.
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