Opinion ID: 2320266
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Protect Plaintiff from Abuse by His Mother

Text: ¶ 27. The claims in the third group are doctrinally similar to those in the second group. Plaintiff's complaint alleges: SRS was also aware that plaintiff's mother was emotionally unstable and regularly abuse[d] him physically and emotionally. SRS failed to remove plaintiff from the residence and he was continually subjected to his mother's abuse throughout his childhood. As a result of SRS's negligence, plaintiff was traumatized for life. Until plaintiff was seventeen-years old, he remained in his mother's custody, and no formal juvenile proceeding was initiated. Because SRS received reports of corporal punishment of plaintiff, however, it monitored plaintiff's home environment and extended services to plaintiff's mother and to plaintiff under a plan of assistance. It provided intermittent therapy to plaintiff's mother and to plaintiff. ¶ 28. As with the claims in the second group considered above, the gravamen of plaintiff's complaint is not that SRS failed to act at all, but instead that its actions were inadequate. Specifically, plaintiff argues that SRS should have initiated a CHINS petition and sought to remove plaintiff from his mother's custody based on the reports of physical abuse it received. As with the claims in the second group, SRS argues that plaintiff's claims are not governed by Sabia, that there is no private analog for defendant's action or omission, and that SRS's actions or omissions are protected by the discretionary function exception. The superior court held that there is no private analog for the claim that SRS should have removed plaintiff from his mother's custody much earlier and that the failure to take other actions is protected by the discretionary function exception. ¶ 29. For the reasons we have stated above, we agree that the State has not waived its sovereign immunity for these claims because the discretionary function exception applies. In addition to our discussion and conclusion above, we note that the decision of whether to initiate CHINS proceedings or to take a child from a parent's custody is an action that SRS can only recommend to the local state's attorney. For these reasons and those stated above with respect to the second group of claims, we hold that the discretionary function applies and the superior court correctly granted summary judgment to SRS on that basis. Affirmed. JOHNSON, J., concurring. ¶ 30. I concur in the result and much of the reasoning of the majority opinion in this case. I write separately only to express my view of the distinction between the agency actions in this case, where the discretionary function exception applies, and those in Sabia v. State, 164 Vt. 293, 307-08, 669 A.2d 1187, 1196-97 (1995), where we did not apply the exception. The majority characterizes the difference between Sabia and this case as the difference between the agency's alleged failure to respond at all to the plaintiffs' claims of abuse in Sabia and its alleged failure to provide an adequate response to plaintiff's claims here. Ante at 849, 852. I believe this distinction is somewhat of an oversimplification. There may be circumstances under which the agency responds to a claim of abuse, but its response fails to comply with the mandatory duties established by 33 V.S.A. § 4915, including the duty to promptly investigate claims of abuse, 33 V.S.A. § 4915(a), and the duty to conduct such investigations according to the requirements of § 4915(b). The agency cannot claim immunity under the discretionary function exception by simply taking some action, no matter how token, in response to a report of abuse; its response must be sufficient to satisfy the mandatory requirements of the statute. The response of SRS was sufficient to meet that standard in this case, so I join in the conclusion reached by the majority. I am authorized to state that Justice Skoglund joins in this concurrence.