Court Opinion

ID: 9819081
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 06:18:19.270297+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:38:29.116444
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE FREEMAN, specially concurring: I agree that Maryville Academy and its employees (hereinafter Maryville Academy) may not invoke parental immunity as a defense to plaintiffs action. Thus, I concur in the result reached by the majority. However, I disagree with the analysis the majority uses in arriving at its decision. In my opinion, Nichol v. Stass, 192 Ill. 2d 233 (2000), which extended a limited form of parental immunity to foster parents in negligence actions, is controlling. Foster parents and institutions, such as Maryville Academy, that provide care to wards of the state should be treated the same. Like foster parents, these institutions assume physical custody of the ward and provide housing, food and medical care to the ward. The institutions supervise and discipline the ward, as do foster parents. Also, both foster parents and the institutions are subject to supervision and regulation by DCFS. Lastly, foster parents and the institutions receive financial reimbursement for the services they provide. I also believe, however, that Nichol was wrongly decided. I dissented in Nichol, 192 Ill. 2d at 253-73 (Freeman, J., dissenting), because there are fundamental differences in the relationship between a foster parent and foster child and the relationship between a biological parent and child that militate against extension of parental immunity to foster parents. In my dissent, I noted that all foster parents, whether supervised directly by DCFS or supervised by a child welfare agency, are subject to DCFS licensing requirements, must participate in DCFS training programs, must maintain records required by DCFS, must provide access to DCFS, and must comply with DCFS standards relating to the appearance, cleanliness and safety of the facility; the discipline of children at the facility; and the provision of care to children at the facility. I also noted that foster parents are entitled to reimbursement from the state for the services they provide to foster children. Foster parents do not stand in loco parentis to foster children because foster parents do not take upon themselves the financial obligations of a parent. Lastly, I sounded a cautionary note regarding the majority’s holding: “By its holding today, the majority has eliminated the requirement that one who stands in loco parentis must assume financial responsibility for the child. The majority has redefined the term in loco parentis. The implication in the present case is that the Stasses may invoke the doctrine of parental immunity to bar an action for negligent supervision of Jonathan Nichol. The majority opinion, however, may have unintended consequences. As noted by the appellate court in Wallace [v. Smyth], 301 Ill. App. 3d [75], 80, housing, care and education are also provided by summer camps, day-care centers, medical and psychological treatment facilities, grandparents and other relatives of a child. Do these persons or entities also stand in loco parentis to a child? Should the Wallace court have held that the [Maryville Academy] and counselors stood in loco parentis to the child placed in their care? Moreover, use of the term in loco parentis is not restricted to the area of foster care or education. Under the Workers’ Compensation Act (820 ILCS 305/1 et seq. (West 1998)) death benefits are payable to a child to whom the deceased employee stood in loco parentis. A parent, or one who stands in loco parentis to a child, may be guilty of the offense of contributing to the dependency or neglect of the child. 720 ILCS 130/2 (West 1998). By redefining the term in loco parentis, the majority opinion may have an impact on diverse areas of the law.” Nichol, 192 Ill. 2d at 272-73 (Freeman, J., dissenting). Thus, in my dissent, I anticipated that other providers of care would claim immunity in negligence actions filed against them. I felt strongly that these providers and foster parents are not entitled to parental immunity. The present case offered this court an opportunity to reconsider the holding in Nichol. To do so would have been helpful to persons bringing actions on behalf of children hurt by providers of care, whether these providers be foster parents or institutions such as Maryville Academy. These providers would not be able to claim parental immunity as a defense in actions filed against them. Further, reconsideration would have safeguarded precious judicial resources since our courts would not be faced with claims of parental immunity by other care providers. The majority fails to grasp this opportunity, however. Instead, the majority relies on an artificial distinction between foster parents and Maryville Academy. The majority apparently bases this distinction on the assistance of additional adults in disciplining the child. Can this court then assume that a foster parent could not enlist the help of other adults in the foster home (or even other children in the foster home) in disciplining a particular minor? In my opinion, this court cannot do so. Because the majority has refused to reconsider the holding in Nichol, our courts will inevitably be faced with claims of parental immunity by other care providers, leading to delay in recovery for wrongs perpetrated against minor wards of this state and a waste- of precious judicial resources. I, for one, continue to believe that Nichol was wrongly decided. I also believe the present case is controlled by Nichol. This court should reconsider the holding in Nichol rather than create an unreal distinction between foster parents and Maryville Academy. For these reasons, I cannot join in the majority opinion, although I concur in the result reached.