Abused foster child files suit

News-Press, The (Fort Myers, FL)

jzeitlin@news-press.com

A young woman who was the victim of sexual abuse by her former San Carlos Park foster father as a child is filing a civil suit against him, his wife and the child welfare agencies she alleges failed to protect her.

She lived with the foster parents, Robert and Janie Jackson, from May 2003 to January 2006 after her father illegally brought the claimant and her sister to Florida from Guatemala when the claimant was 11 years old. Both were subjected to sexual abuse, the legal documents claim. When the girl was taken in by the Department of Children and Families, she spoke an indigenous Guatemalan language and didn't speak English or Spanish well, it says.

"These are the most vulnerable plaintiffs and claimants you can find," said Richard Filson, the Sarasota lawyer representing the woman, who is not being named because of the nature of the case. "When she was put in state care, she was basically placed in a foster home where she should have been protected. It was a case of taking her out of the frying pan and putting her into the fire."

The woman turned 18 in October 2007, documents say. She is a community college student, still lives in Southwest Florida and is working part time for the DCF, said Filson, who declined The News-Press' request to interview her.

"She doesn't want to talk about it more than she has to," he said.

Filson said he sent the lawsuit, which spells out 13 counts with a total amount exceeding $195,000 in damages, to be filed in Lee County Circuit Court on Monday.

Robert Jackson, 58, was arrested in January 2006 after his wife, Janie, called the police after finding him without clothes on, atop their foster daughter, then 16, having sex, reports say. Jackson was released four months later after posting bail.

The young woman alleges that Janie Jackson persuaded her to go to lunch in the summer of 2006 and intimidated her by telling her that her husband would die in prison because of her. The woman also alleges Jackson told her she was responsible for destroying the couple's lives, among other allegations. Documents accuse Janie Jackson of negligence, intentionally inflicting emotional distress and civil conspiracy with her husband, Robert, to induce the girl to leave the country, not appear in court and write a letter requesting charges be dropped.

It claims that Janie Jackson drove the girl to Miami, coerced her to take her sister's passport and paid for her ticket to Guatemala, where the girl returned to live with her family in an isolated village. Two advocates eventually traveled to the impoverished community in November 2006 to bring her back to Southwest Florida so that charges against Robert Jackson wouldn't be dropped.

Robert Jackson pleaded guilty to three felony charges including sexual battery and two counts of unlawful sexual activity in June, according to The News-Press at the time. His sentencing is set for late October. Janie Jackson said she didn't arrange the girl's departure and is still married to Robert.

"I don't really understand how I did anything," Janie Jackson said, noting that she originally called the police to report her husband, before declining further comment.

The Jacksons had been foster parents since 2003 and had cared for at least 22 foster children over the years, The News-Press has reported.

The young woman also names Children's Network of Southwest Florida, the nonprofit agency that contracts with the state to provide care to foster children, and its parent organization, Camelot Community Care, and Lutheran Services Florida, which is contracted by the Children's Network to provide child welfare case management in Lee County. She accuses the three agencies of negligence and vicarious liability for battery and negligence.

"Children's Network negligently failed to monitor and supervise (the girl) in the Jackson home, and knew or should have known that Robert Jackson was sexually abusing her," it states. "Children's Network further negligently failed to monitor and supervise the Jackson's activities as foster parents in order to ensure (her) safety."

Children's Network spokeswoman Aimee McLaughlin declined to comment on pending litigation and Lutheran Services Florida regional director, Patty Leonard, directed questions to the organization's CEO, who could not be reached.

Filson said he sent a notice of intent to file suit against DCF on behalf of the young woman. The local department spokeswoman, Erin Gillespie, said the agency had been notified in May.

"Until we are sued, we don't have anything to comment on," Gillespie said.

Filson, who has argued several child welfare cases in the past decade, said that he plans to follow through with the suit and it will likely contain similar allegations made against the other agencies. He didn't anticipate that the planned legal action would impact the young woman's employment with the department.