A mother whose baby died in a Los Angeles County foster home has been awarded $9 million to settle a lawsuit against the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and one of its social workers.
The Tuesday jury verdict in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles requires damages be paid to the estate of Erick Lee and his mother, Sumoyyah Lee. She alleged that the county’s child welfare agency violated her constitutional equal protection rights, resulting in the death of her 7-month-old son.
“I have waited more than three years for justice and accountability for the death of my son,” Lee said in a press release. “This verdict will not bring my baby back, but I hope it forces DCFS to change so that no other child or family has to suffer the way we have.”
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Children and Family Services said it extended “deepest condolences” to Erick’s family and loved ones. The agency also noted the important role specially trained foster families play in supporting medically fragile children until they are able to reunify with their parents.
“While we disagree with the jury’s verdict, we respect the integrity of the judicial process and hope this outcome does not deter good, kind families from opening their homes to children in need and whose families may be experiencing crises,” the statement reads.
According to court records, Erick Lee died in 2022 from severe dehydration in a foster parent’s home where two other children had previously died. Earlier that year, another foster child placed in the home passed away of unknown circumstances, but no autopsy took place. The foster parent’s biological son also died in 2018, as a result of untreated diabetes.
Lee’s case against the county alleged that social workers placed Erick in danger in the same home, just months after he was born prematurely at Antelope Valley Hospital. He required special care afterwards, including a medical bag attached to his body to collect waste, according to court records. Her attorneys argued that the workers ignored prior allegations of abuse and neglect in the home, and failed to properly monitor him while he lived there, the records show.
An eight-person jury found the county liable for Erick’s death and that it violated the family’s civil rights by showing “deliberate indifference” to his health and safety. Additionally, the jury found the Department of Children and Family Services did not adequately train, supervise and correct its social workers.
Some claims against the individual social worker named in the case were dismissed, but the jury found she was negligent in her job of supervising Erick.
Je Yon Jung, the civil rights attorney who represented Lee, called the jury’s verdict “unmistakable.”
She said the county assumed the role of a parent when it removed Erick from his mother, but instead placed him in danger. She also said the county had ignored numerous policies, procedures and statutory requirements meant to keep children safe while in foster care.
She urged greater oversight of children who die while in the agency’s custody.
“They egregiously failed Baby Erick, Mrs. Lee, and countless other foster children whose deaths did not even warrant an investigation into the cause of death,” Jung said in a statement.
