Riverside, Calif. — Riverside County agreed to pay more than $4.2 million to two young siblings who were sexually abused by another foster child the county placed in their home — a child whose documented history of sexual abuse and sexualized behavior county social workers did not fully disclose, according to the lawsuit. The county admitted no liability in the settlement, which was signed September 11.
The siblings were 8 and 4 years old when they were placed in the home in October 2021. What happened next, the lawsuit alleges, was not a tragedy no one saw coming. It was one the county was warned about, in writing, and did not stop.
What the county knew
According to the lawsuit, filed in January 2023, county social workers placed another foster child in the home without fully disclosing his documented history of being sexually abused by a family member and his resulting sexualized behavior. The foster mother, unaware of the risk, had no reason to watch for it. The suit alleges the county breached mandatory duties it owed to the children in its care.
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The warnings came quickly. About three weeks after the placement, the foster mother gave the county and Knott’s Family Agency, the private agency involved, a 14-day notice demanding the child’s removal. A contact note dated December 27, 2021, reportedly described the boy frightening other children and engaging in sexualized conduct. The foster mother’s repeated text messages asking social workers to find another placement, the lawsuit says, went unanswered.
A timeline of ignored warnings
The dates tell the story. The children were placed in October 2021. Within three weeks, the foster mother was demanding removal. By late December, the county’s own records reportedly documented the danger. The alleged abuser was not removed until January 19, 2022 — three days after one of the children disclosed the abuse to the foster mother on January 16. The window in which the county could have acted on its own notes, and on a caregiver’s explicit pleas, stayed open for months while two small children remained at risk.
A pattern in Riverside County
This settlement does not stand alone. A 2022 county review found the Children’s Services Division and the Office of the Public Guardian severely understaffed. Riverside County has paid other foster-care abuse settlements in recent years, and earlier in 2026 it was part of a $13.5 million settlement with six of the Turpin siblings, who were abused in a county foster placement after being rescued from their parents’ torture.
The through-line is not a staffing number. It is a county that receives warnings — from its own caseworkers’ notes, from foster parents, from the children themselves — and does not act on them until after a child is harmed. A settlement that admits no liability lets the agency pay and move on without naming what it did wrong, which is exactly how the next child ends up in the same position. Families trying to understand the duties a county owes a child in its custody can start with this guide to the foster care system’s problems.
Key facts
- Riverside County agreed to pay more than $4.2 million to two siblings sexually abused by another foster child placed in their home. The settlement was signed September 11; the county admitted no liability.
- The siblings were 8 and 4 when placed in October 2021.
- The lawsuit alleges county social workers did not fully disclose the other child’s documented history of sexual abuse and sexualized behavior.
- The foster mother gave a 14-day removal notice about three weeks after placement; a December 27, 2021 note reportedly described sexualized conduct.
- One child disclosed abuse on January 16, 2022; the alleged abuser was removed January 19, 2022. The suit was filed in January 2023.
- A 2022 county review found the Children’s Services Division and Office of the Public Guardian severely understaffed.
Sources
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