A boy who was sexually abused while in a group home run by the South Carolina Department of Social Services has been awarded $534,000 in damages.
A federal jury in the United States District Court in Spartanburg returned a verdict Friday in favor of the child.
Evidence showed the boy was chronically sexually abused from the ages of 10 to 13 by multiple other boys at Boys Home of the South.
The jury found that DSS was grossly negligent in its care of the child.
The jury found three different occurrences of gross negligence and awarded $400,000 to the child as compensatory damages.