Six out of 13 siblings who were rescued from their biological parents’ home in 2018 are now suing Riverside County and a foster care agency that allegedly placed them, knowingly, into an abusive foster family.
Authorities rescued all of the Turpin siblings from their parents’ home in Perris, California, in 2018, after they suffered severe abuse, which included being chained to their beds. The six siblings, still minors at the time, were put into foster care following their time in Perris.
The siblings claim that the agency responsible for protecting them, ChildNet, consciously placed them into a new family “unfit to be foster parents, particularly for children as vulnerable as plaintiffs” due to the couple’s history of abusing and neglecting children, their complaints reportedly read. (RELATED: Turpin Parents To Receive At Least 25 Years In Prison For Torturing And Starving Their 13 Children)
The siblings suffered “severe abuse and neglect” for three years that the agency was made aware of, the lawsuit claims. The abuse included alleged sexual, physical and emotional abuse. The foster parents would allegedly grab, fondle and kiss the children on the mouth. The couple also hit them in the face with sandals, pulled their hair, hit them with a belt and stroked their heads, the complaints state.
The emotional abuse included making the children sit in a circle and talk about the prior abuse from their biological parents, or cursing at them, including encouragements to commit suicide, according to the complaints. They also forced the children to “eat excessive amounts of food” or their own vomit, causing eating disorders, the complaints state. (RELATED: Doctor: 11-Year-Old Turpin Daughter Suffered From ‘Psychosocial Dwarfism’ Due To Malnourishment)
The complaint alleges that the officials overseeing the siblings “failed to report” the complaints brought to them. The foster parents were eventually arrested in 2021 for lewd acts with a child, but the abuse of the plaintiff over three years led to severe injuries, the complaint states.
A recently published, independent report, initiated by Riverside County, found that “all too often the social services system failed” the Turpin siblings.