8 Victims Get $11M for Delayed Reporting in Foster Child Sex Abuse Case
Eight foster children, aged 5 to 12, who were sexually abused for an additional 18 months because of delayed follow-up by authorities are to get an $11 million settlement from three government agencies and the convicted abuser’s wife.
Although Wendy Young wasn’t charged (her husband, Ronald, was sentenced in 2005 to 26 years in prison), “the lawyers believe she should have known what was going on,” reports the Seattle Times.
The abuse apparently began in the summer of 2003, when Ronald Young started posting graphic photos on websites used by pedophiles using the name “foster dad,” the newspaper reports. Under established protocol, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted the Seattle police, which was the designated clearinghouse for Washington state, in September 2003. However, the department couldn’t show that it immediately alerted the Tacoma police, as required, and it didn’t report the suspected child abuse to a state agency, as required.
When Tacoma police finally got the information, they delayed for months before investigating and also failed to notify the state agency of the suspected child abuse.
“The city of Tacoma contributed $7.6 million toward the total settlement; Seattle settled for $1.9 million and the state settled for just more than $1 million,” the newspaper writes. “Wendy Young settled for nearly $500,000, which was covered by her homeowners insurance.”
