$24M suit: DHS moved abuser into foster home with 2 girls

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A lawsuit says Oregon child welfare officials ignored years of warnings when they moved a boy with a history of abusing younger children into the same foster home as two girls.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports new court documents say case workers labeled the boy a “risk” and wrote that they planned to move the young girls out as soon as possible.

Yet the lawsuit contends they remained in the home for two months and that the boy sexually abused them.

Documents say the abuse came to light in 2017.

A lawyer sued the Department of Human Services on the girls’ behalf in September, then filed an updated version of the lawsuit this month after the agency turned over its case files.

State lawyers responded to the initial lawsuit by filing court papers that acknowledged they should never have placed the boy in the home.