Opinion ID: 1917563
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: S.A.P.'s COMPLAINT

Text: S.A.P. alleged in her complaint that the department was negligent in the following ways: in failing to adequately supervise and monitor the placement of S.A.P.; in failing to adequately supervise the activities of its caseworker, Ms. Dassie; in failing to remove S.A.P. from the home of C.C. when the department knew or should have known that S.A.P. and her sister were being abused by C.C.; and in falsifying and altering records of her foster care in C.C.'s home and in allowing those records to remain in her official file. S.A.P. also alleged that the department actively concealed the facts concerning the negligence that is the basis of this complaint and obstructed the law enforcement investigation of the abuse of the plaintiff and her sister. S.A.P. stated several specific claims in paragraph 13 of her second amended complaint: (13) The department, during the plaintiff's minority, actively concealed the facts concerning the negligence that is the basis for this complaint. Any records concerning the negligence complained of were, by Florida Statute and by the active efforts of the defendant concealed from the public and those involved in the care of the plaintiff. The department obstructed the law enforcement investigation of the abuse of the plaintiff and her sister in 1979. In the report of the internal investigation conducted by the Defendant and released on December 21, 1992, it was first revealed that law enforcement officials alleged that employees of the defendant obstructed the criminal investigation of the 1979 abuse and neglect of the plaintiff. The department's own internal investigation, reported on December 21, 1992, also revealed for the first time that the case worker charged with the duty to supervise the placement of the plaintiff and her sister falsified records so that it appeared that the case worker had conducted monthly supervision visits with the plaintiff and her sister. The records reveal that the foster home was frequently visited and that S.A.P. and her sister were doing fine. Had any interested adult examined these records prior to December 21, 1992, they would have been misled into believing that the department had reasonably, appropriately, and lawfully discharged its supervision duties. The negligence of the Department was concealed by these falsified records. In paragraph of 17 of her complaint, S.A.P. explained that she had no active memory of the abuse until she became a young adult: (17) Throughout the course of her childhood, the plaintiff had little or no actual memory of the incidents which serve as the subject of this complaint. She was only three and barely four years old at the time of the incidents which serve as the basis for this claim. In addition, the trauma and abuse which she endured caused her to lose any active memory of the incidents in question. Her loss of memory is confirmed by her treating counselor who, in treatment with the plaintiff from 1992 to 1993 (when the plaintiff was 17 years of age), verified that the plaintiff, at that time, had no active memory of these incidents. Of course, the plaintiff had no memory or knowledge whatsoever concerning the negligence that forms the basis of this complaint and the failure of the department to properly supervise her at age three and four. Additionally, S.A.P. alleged other acts of wrongdoing by the department, including a claim that [t]he records of the facts underlying this cause of action ... had been altered.