A lawsuit in South Carolina alleges that the state’s social service department and individual caseworkers failed to protect a teenage girl from a suspected predator who groomed, drugged, and abused her. The victim’s mother had reportedly made repeated requests to remove her daughter from the abusive home, but these requests were allegedly ignored. The predator, Gregg Martin, faces over a dozen sex crime charges and was arrested for alleged sex crimes against a minor in Georgia. The lawsuit claims that the Department of Social Services failed to ensure the victim was in a safe environment and did not check on her during the five to six weeks she spent with Martin.
The teenager was initially removed from her home due to allegations of abuse and neglect against her father and was placed with Martin, a family member of the victim’s best friend. The victim’s family reportedly felt pressured by Protective Services to sign a safety plan that placed her with Martin, despite objections from her mother. Text messages between the victim’s mother and a caseworker show the efforts made to get her daughter back. After about six weeks, a new caseworker moved the victim out of Martin’s house and she was finally able to disclose the abuse. The trauma of the experience continues to haunt the victim.
The Foster Care Abuse Law Firm has filed multiple lawsuits against the state agency and doctors in South Carolina for conducting unnecessary, invasive exams on children under the guise of checking for sexual abuse. These exams are described as graphic and disturbing, potentially causing physical, psychological, and emotional harm to the children. The lawsuits allege that the exams are essentially rape and ask the courts to stop the defendants from performing them without allegations of abuse. The lawyers involved in the cases are concerned about the potential harm being done to children in the name of protection.
The lawsuits against the Department of Social Services and Prisma Health describe the exams as harmful and unnecessary, with no allegations or suspicions of sexual abuse. The victims in these cases are young girls and boys who have been subjected to physical probing and exposure during the exams. The allegations suggest that there may be hundreds of thousands of images of children’s genitalia in the possession of Prisma Health. The legal actions are seeking to put an end to these types of exams and prevent further harm to children who are already vulnerable and at risk. The lawsuits aim to hold those responsible for the exams accountable for the trauma inflicted on the victims.
