A Massachusetts foster family can move forward with a lawsuit against the Department of Children and Families that claims the agency placed a child with a history of committing sexual abuse in their home without sharing his background.
The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled Thursday to allow the case to move ahead, the Boston Globe reported. The family alleges in the lawsuit that the 12-year-old foster child sexually assaulted their young daughter.
The decision could have widespread repercussions for the agency, including potentially pushing it to disclose more about the children they are placing with foster families, advocates and attorneys said.
The family said they are still processing the court's ruling, and they felt deceived by the agency. Their now 11-year-old daughter told her father she had been assaulted when she was 4.
The foster family sued the agency in July 2016, arguing that the agency was negligent and that if they had known the truth about the boy's history, they would not have agreed to take him in.
