Picking up the phone can be the hardest part. Survivors of group home abuse often worry that calling a lawyer means retelling everything or starting a lawsuit on the spot. It does not. Nothing is set in motion by asking a question, and the decisions stay yours.
You also do not need to have reported the abuse, and nobody needs to have been charged. A civil claim asks what the operator, and often the placing agency, knew, what it should have known, and what it did. Attorney Ervin Nevitt, a partner at Coplan + Crane (Illinois bar registration 6319808, admitted 2014), reviews these cases.
Step one: you speak to a person
Not a form and not an intake script. You do not have to describe what happened in order to have the conversation.
Step two: we look into who had a duty
We look at which institution was responsible, what it knew, what records exist, and whether a claim can still be brought. That work costs you nothing.
In a group home case, two institutions are often in frame at once: the operator that ran the home and the body that placed the child there. Residential and group homes hold children who have already been removed from somewhere else. Staffing is thin, overnight supervision is minimal, and residents often have histories that make them easy to disbelieve. Those conditions are part of what we examine.
These claims are usually brought against the operator, and often the placing agency, not only against the individual. Negligent supervision is the theory that most often carries them, though several usually run together, and which fits depends on your facts. The responsible body is usually a private organization, so the Tort Immunity rules for Illinois public bodies do not apply in the same way. The liability questions are the ordinary institutional ones.
Step three: you decide
We tell you plainly what is possible. If you decide not to go ahead, that is the end of it, and what you told us stays confidential.
Step four: if you go ahead, we carry it
We handle the filings, deadlines, records, and the institution's insurers. Steps can be taken to protect your identity in the court record, and we explain them before anything is filed.
Common Questions Around the First Call
Does someone have to have been convicted? No. A civil case uses a lower standard of proof than a criminal one and is usually brought against the institution rather than the individual.
It was a long time ago. That is the norm in this work rather than the exception. What governs it is your age at the time, who was responsible, and the particular facts.
Will my name be public? Steps can be taken to protect your identity in the court record.
Call (708) 671-6858 for a free, confidential case review.
