More complaints filed against Devereux
More than one dozen people who were treated at Devereux Foundation facilities in Chester County have sued the organization and several of its affiliates, saying they were sexually abused while they were under its care, according to a press release issued by a law firm.
The lawsuit, involving 12 women and one man, was filed Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. The complainants are residents of Pennsylvania and Delaware, although their specific addresses are not listed to protect their privacy.
The suit, brought by attorneys from Saltz Mongeluzzi and Bendesky and Helm Law Group, both Philadelphia firms, follows a similar action brought against Devereux by the West Chester firm of Goldberg, Goldberg, and Maloney. Both suits allege that the plaintiffs were preyed upon by staff workers at the Devereux facilities where they were housed, and that the organization failed to protect them, even though allegedly knew of the danger the youths faced.
The new suit charges the organization, headquartered in Villanova, with negligence, sexual assault, and child abuse claims.
“These courageous plaintiffs put their trust, faith and confidence in Devereux and its employees to care for them, to help them rehabilitate, and instead they were horrifically brutalized sexually, physically and emotionally,” said attorney Robert J. Mongeluzzi in the release. “They are taking positive action to hold those who utterly failed to protect and care for them accountable and to prevent other vulnerable, innocent individuals from being victimized.”
In a press statement, Devereux said that it had not seen the complaint and could not comment on its specifics. It noted that the organization had hired former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to conduct an investigation of the conditions at the facilities across the region and nation.
Kristen Feden, the attorney who heads the Salz firm’s sexual assault practice and was among the prosecutors in the Bill Cosby sex assault case in Montgomery County, “ghastly crimes against children – one was eightyears-young – were committed on Devereux properties, by its employees, who in some instances injected their victims with sedatives before violating them. These children and their families, many from communities of color, were first betrayed and then abused.
“Meanwhile, Devereux pocketed its compensation from the referring agency or government despite knowing that they were not placing these children in caring and enriching environments,” she said.
According to the Associated Press in August, Philadelphia has stopped sending local children to facilities operated by a nonprofit health organization where at least 41 intellectually disabled children have reported sexual assaults over the past quarter-century.
Several Philadelphia City Council members have also demanded that officials remove all 62 local children from campuses of Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health facilities and cancel all contracts with the firm, including a $7.5 million agreement it holds with Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services.
Last month, it was reported that the city Department of Human Services had notified 53 children and their guardians currently placed at Devereux facilities that they would be removed from those campuses over safety concerns.
Chester County’s Department of Children, Youth and Families has conducted its own investigation into the condition of children under its supervision at Devereux facilities and has found no problem, the county said in a statement last month.
Devereux treats children with intellectual disabilities, mental disorders and trauma. It has been in existence for more than 100 years and is now the nation’s leading nonprofit health organization of its kind.