Southcitymom--This is slightly off topic but I wanted to comment about the civil suit against the private school you mentioned. I am not a greedy woman. However, my children are saddled with therapy needs they will never be able to meet as adults. They received federal assistance due to their special needs upon our adoption of them. They then received a limited amount of therapy (those who were deemed to be able to benefit from it). Now that they are all over 18, they receive nothing at all.
Our children were raped in the local school during school hours and in our neighbors' yard and in our own. I would have thought that the other parents or school would bear some culpability but this is not the case.
We've been counseled to seek legal representation over the years by every body from the AG on down the line. Guess what? No one will take our case. We've gone to the finest and best reviewed attorneys in Portland and SF and they'll spend a few hours with us and send us on our way. It seems that a school or a set of parents MUST have reason to believe that a juvenile could be a sexual threat before you can sue. We've been told that unless details come out that those facts can be proved, our children are out of luck. That has always surprised me and disappointed me. It also bowls me over that the other family has every tiny tidbit of info about our family and yet we are prohibited from ever knowing anything at all about the rapist's past--nothing at all.
The parents of the young man who raped our children own medical buildings which they used as collateral to defend their son. They also received tens of thousands of dollars in donations for the "wrongly accused". Where are the funds for our kids? I realize that we might not even have the strength or desire to fight yet again but we've never been given that opportunity.
When the rapist was convicted, he was assessed a $60 fine for each of the rapes against the children. He's never even paid that piddly little bit of money. When we got dragged into the Post-conviction trial--very much against our will--we were told by the AG not to worry. Well we needed to worry. She couldn't represent or protect our kids. It was her job to protect and defend the veracity of the conviction--which she did admirably. Our kids were all ordered to be deposed again and our medical, personal, school, and financial records (for the past 15 years) were subpoenaed 9 years after the trial. The supreme court issued a writ of mandamus prohibiting the release of these documents to the defense but it was too late. The 15,000 documents had already been released and we got charged for the copying of them. We've requested their return and have waited two years with no action. Our children were called as witnesses FOR the rapist to prove in a convoluted way that he did not receive a fair trial. I know it's almost unbelievable but we were reminded that the rapist had constitutional rights and we were compelled to comply with them. You all might think that I'm a reasonably "put-together" person but I fell apart on the witness stand. I cried and begged the judge to spare our children the agony of facing their rapist again. We dealt with two attempted suicides that week but were sternly told that those kids had better present themselves for the depositions. One had to be picked up at the psychiatric dept. of the hospital to go to his deposition. The depositions took place two days before Christmas and drug on for 14 hours. We were also reeling from the death of a grand-baby that month. We were advised to immediately hire an attorney ($10,000) which did nothing to prevent the depositions (and trauma and suicide attempts). This is when we got busy and changed Oregon law to prohibit this from ever happening again to another victim. You can actually read the changes to the Crime Victims Laws in the brochure produced last year. That was our kids' legacy. Something wonderful and strong did come from our children's pain.
So, for those who jump to conclusions (and I'm not commenting at all about your very lucid and important post), that victims automatically will "get the farm", it's not true. We gave up eleven years of our lives and lost most of our financial assets in fighting our case. I worry that the victims in this current case will also be left bereft and penniless. It's not fair but it's the way it is. I find it unacceptable when a victim refuses to testify but I do understand in my heart where they are coming from. Justice does not come cheap. I guess the moral of this story is to watch your children and prevent the abuse from happening in the first place. Our justice system is not child or family friendly.
Our children were raped in the local school during school hours and in our neighbors' yard and in our own. I would have thought that the other parents or school would bear some culpability but this is not the case.
We've been counseled to seek legal representation over the years by every body from the AG on down the line. Guess what? No one will take our case. We've gone to the finest and best reviewed attorneys in Portland and SF and they'll spend a few hours with us and send us on our way. It seems that a school or a set of parents MUST have reason to believe that a juvenile could be a sexual threat before you can sue. We've been told that unless details come out that those facts can be proved, our children are out of luck. That has always surprised me and disappointed me. It also bowls me over that the other family has every tiny tidbit of info about our family and yet we are prohibited from ever knowing anything at all about the rapist's past--nothing at all.
The parents of the young man who raped our children own medical buildings which they used as collateral to defend their son. They also received tens of thousands of dollars in donations for the "wrongly accused". Where are the funds for our kids? I realize that we might not even have the strength or desire to fight yet again but we've never been given that opportunity.
When the rapist was convicted, he was assessed a $60 fine for each of the rapes against the children. He's never even paid that piddly little bit of money. When we got dragged into the Post-conviction trial--very much against our will--we were told by the AG not to worry. Well we needed to worry. She couldn't represent or protect our kids. It was her job to protect and defend the veracity of the conviction--which she did admirably. Our kids were all ordered to be deposed again and our medical, personal, school, and financial records (for the past 15 years) were subpoenaed 9 years after the trial. The supreme court issued a writ of mandamus prohibiting the release of these documents to the defense but it was too late. The 15,000 documents had already been released and we got charged for the copying of them. We've requested their return and have waited two years with no action. Our children were called as witnesses FOR the rapist to prove in a convoluted way that he did not receive a fair trial. I know it's almost unbelievable but we were reminded that the rapist had constitutional rights and we were compelled to comply with them. You all might think that I'm a reasonably "put-together" person but I fell apart on the witness stand. I cried and begged the judge to spare our children the agony of facing their rapist again. We dealt with two attempted suicides that week but were sternly told that those kids had better present themselves for the depositions. One had to be picked up at the psychiatric dept. of the hospital to go to his deposition. The depositions took place two days before Christmas and drug on for 14 hours. We were also reeling from the death of a grand-baby that month. We were advised to immediately hire an attorney ($10,000) which did nothing to prevent the depositions (and trauma and suicide attempts). This is when we got busy and changed Oregon law to prohibit this from ever happening again to another victim. You can actually read the changes to the Crime Victims Laws in the brochure produced last year. That was our kids' legacy. Something wonderful and strong did come from our children's pain.
So, for those who jump to conclusions (and I'm not commenting at all about your very lucid and important post), that victims automatically will "get the farm", it's not true. We gave up eleven years of our lives and lost most of our financial assets in fighting our case. I worry that the victims in this current case will also be left bereft and penniless. It's not fair but it's the way it is. I find it unacceptable when a victim refuses to testify but I do understand in my heart where they are coming from. Justice does not come cheap. I guess the moral of this story is to watch your children and prevent the abuse from happening in the first place. Our justice system is not child or family friendly.
