Opinion ID: 76580
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: R.M.'s clearly established right to physical safety in his foster home

Text: 13 It is clearly established in this circuit that foster children have a constitutional right to be free from unnecessary pain and a fundamental right to physical safety. Taylor v. Ledbetter, 818 F.2d 791, 794-95 (11th Cir.1987) (en banc). The state's action in assuming the responsibility of finding and keeping the child in a safe environment places an obligation on state officials to ensure the continuing safety of that environment. Id. The failure to meet that obligation constitutes a deprivation of liberty under the fourteenth amendment. Id. 14 We reject defendants' argument that  Taylor merely generally establishes that a foster child's constitutional rights may be violated, while not making it apparent that any specific conduct violates a foster child's constitutional rights. Even were the facts of Taylor not substantially similar to those here, see Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 122 S.Ct. 2508, 153 L.Ed.2d 666 (2002), Taylor clearly established that foster children have a liberty interest, pursuant to the substantive due process clause of the fourteenth amendment, in being free from the type of abuse inflicted upon R.M. Although R.M. was not reduced to a coma as was the child in Taylor, his injuries were sufficiently similar that no reasonable argument can be made that Taylor did not put defendants on notice that deliberate indifference to the risk of this harm would subject them to potential liability. See also Omar v. Lindsey, 243 F.Supp.2d 1339, 1344-45 (M.D.Fla.2003) aff'd on basis of district court opinion, 334 F.3d 1246 (11th Cir.2003). 2 15 Thus, there can be no question under the facts alleged, that the injuries sustained by R.M. violated his well-established constitutional right in this circuit to be reasonably safe in his foster home. Nevertheless, the Rays cannot proceed upon this allegation alone. The law also requires that the Rays be able to claim that the defendants were deliberately indifferent to the violation of this right. Taylor, 818 F.2d at 797. The remaining question, then, is whether the Rays have made this claim. 3 16