Mother suing couple, agencies over abuse

Mother suing couple, agencies over abuse
By DEBORAH CIRCELLI, Staff writer
June 28, 2010 12:05 AM Posted in: East Volusia - West Volusia Tagged: Robert Clinton
Clinton
DAYTONA BEACH -- A local mother is suing the state and two local foster care agencies, claiming they failed to keep her daughter safe when she was sexually assaulted by a former Deltona foster parent.

The 40-year-old Daytona Beach single mother, Lisa, whose last name is not being used by The News-Journal to protect the child's identity, has filed a civil suit on behalf of her daughter and son against the state Department of Children & Families, Community Partnership for Children, Neighbor To Family and former foster parents Robert R. Clinton and Betty Dease-Clinton.

Robert Clinton is serving life in prison after being convicted of lewd and lascivious molestation involving the foster daughter, 10 counts of possession of pornography involving a child and 40 counts of promoting sexual performance of a child under 12.

Dease-Clinton, who has since divorced Robert Clinton, could not be reached for comment.

The suit filed last week states the then 2 1/2-year-old girl was sexually assaulted on a regular basis in the home between June 29, 2006, and July 14, 2006, by Robert Clinton and that 41 separate pornographic photos were taken of the assaults on the child and displayed on the Internet for public viewing.

The suit, which is seeking in excess of $15,000 in damages, says the child has and will continue to suffer severe bodily harm, pain and suffering, mental anguish and "loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life" and will require treatment the rest of her life due to the "severe psychological trauma."

The girl's brother, who was 5 at the time, witnessed the assaults on his sister on numerous occasions, according to the suit, and suffered and will continue to suffer emotional distress, mental anguish and pain and suffering. The mother, who now has custody of her three children but has still been dealing with the state over whether she can properly care for them, said in a phone interview that her daughter, who is now 6, has gone through counseling but continues to have issues.

"I just don't want this to happen to no one else," she said.

DCF, Community Partnership for Children and/or Neighbor To Family, the suit states, were required to perform weekly face-to-face visits until the placement was stable and secure. The suit also says the agencies should have met privately with the children to address any problems or concerns.

"They should have known there were things going on in that home," the mother said. "They didn't do their job properly."

Her personal injury attorney, William Chanfrau Jr. in Daytona Beach, said they tried to resolve the case before filing suit but the state denied any liability.

"If you're going to put a child in a foster home, you better make sure the kid is going to be protected," Chanfrau said.

Reggie Williams, local DCF administrator, said he can't comment on the suit except that "the situation itself was unfortunate."

The agencies also failed, according to the suit, to use reasonable care in screening the prospective foster parents "who have knowingly provided false and misleading information regarding their criminal background" and their character.

The suit also says Betty Dease-Clinton failed to provide a safe and secure environment and failed to prevent the abuse by her then-husband and "failed to timely report" the abuse "which she knew or should have known about."

Police had previously stated they didn't think the wife was involved and she was never charged. But Chanfrau believes she is liable for "failing to supervise and watch the children."

Gordon Johnson, CEO of Neighbor To Family, which oversaw the foster parents and case workers, said "this was a very unusual occurrence" and that the agency did an "extensive" background check and nothing was found.

"We did everything to protect them," Johnson said. "We were very shocked to have this happen. It wasn't something we had known about before."

Bill Babiez, CEO of Community Partnership for Children, which contracts with Neighbor To Family, also said two reviews were made following Clinton's arrest and found all proper background checks were done.

According to the mother and her dependency attorneys, the three children were placed in foster care in 2006 because one of the daughters was hospitalized after she got into a hair product. The children were later returned and removed again after the two daughters were sexually acting out in day care, which the mother and her attorneys had said was based on the molestation in foster care.

Her three children, now 4, 6 and 9, were returned in intervals at the end of last year. But a dependency case remains open and case workers from Community Partnership for Children have monitored the home on a weekly basis and are moving to biweekly visits, officials there said. Agency officials have stated in the past they were concerned with her parenting because tests show she has a low IQ.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2010/06/28/mother-suing-couple-agencies-over-abuse.html