Riverside, Calif. — Riverside County has agreed to pay more than $4.2 million to two foster siblings who alleged in a lawsuit that county social workers placed a 9-year-old boy with a documented history of sexualized behavior in their foster home without fully warning the caregiver, then left him there for weeks after she begged for his removal. The siblings, an 8-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl at the time, say the boy sexually assaulted them repeatedly. The settlement was signed Sept. 11, and the county admitted no liability, according to The Sun in San Bernardino.
What the lawsuit says Riverside County social workers knew
According to the lawsuit, the boy, identified as T.B., was placed in October 2021 in a foster home with the brother and sister, who had been removed from their biological parents’ home in San Bernardino. The siblings are identified in court papers only as D.W. and J.R.
The social worker told the foster mother that T.B. had ADHD, had been living with an uncle who died by suicide, and needed love, the complaint states. Not fully disclosed, the lawsuit alleges, was his documented history of being sexually abused by a family member and of displaying sexual behaviors. The foster mother said she would never have accepted him had she known, and that she felt she was “back doored” into taking him, according to the suit.
Removal requests went unanswered
From the start, the lawsuit alleges, T.B. made threats and sexualized comments to the other children in the home. Three weeks after he arrived, the foster mother gave Riverside County and Knott’s Family Agency in Redlands, a defendant in the case, a 14-day notice to remove him. She repeatedly texted the assigned social worker about a new placement but got no response, the suit claims.
Instead, for more than two months, the county and the agency kept documenting the problem. A Dec. 27, 2021, entry in the child welfare case management system stated that “T.B. was still scaring the children in the home and would hump the air,” according to the lawsuit. The foster mother was so desperate she considered “just dropping him off.”
On Jan. 16, 2022, the 8-year-old told his foster mother that T.B. had sexually assaulted him, according to the complaint. His little sister later described being touched in a forensic interview. T.B. was removed three days later, on Jan. 19, 2022.
The assaults began as soon as T.B. arrived in the home and occurred repeatedly until his removal.
Lawsuit filed on behalf of the siblings, via The Sun
The suit, filed in January 2023, alleged negligence and breach of mandatory duties. Plaintiffs’ attorney Jack Anthony told The Sun the settlement “is fair and should afford the children opportunities that they might not otherwise have as they get older.” He said the siblings have since been adopted. County spokesperson C.L. Lopez said in a statement that “any time a child is harmed, it weighs heavily on our hearts.”
A Riverside County pattern of foster care sex abuse payouts
This is not the first time Riverside County has paid for placing children with known sexual-abuse histories into homes with other kids, according to The Sun and Hoodline:
- Since 2019, the county has settled for nearly $7 million lawsuits by three foster children who said they were sexually abused by another foster youth, David Jakubowski, in 2013 and 2015 placements. Jakubowski was convicted in March 2016 of two counts of child rape and sentenced to 10 years.
- A Hemet foster home case from 2013 settled in September 2024 for nearly $4 million.
- Attorney Shawn McMillan said two more cases involving three of Jakubowski’s former foster brothers have settled, with amounts not yet final.
- Earlier in 2026, Riverside County and ChildNet agreed to a $13.5 million settlement with six Turpin siblings over abuse in foster care, Hoodline reported.
The pattern is the story. Children were taken from their parents in the name of safety and placed by social workers who, according to these lawsuits, withheld what they knew. The county pays, admits nothing, and taxpayers foot the bill. None of the coverage FAN reviewed reported any discipline of the social workers involved.
Key facts
- Settlement: More than $4.2 million, signed Sept. 11, 2026; no admission of liability
- Plaintiffs: Two foster siblings, then 8 and 4, removed from their parents in San Bernardino
- Defendants: Riverside County and Knott’s Family Agency of Redlands
- Allegation: Social workers did not fully disclose a 9-year-old’s history of sexual abuse and sexualized behavior
- Timeline: Placed October 2021; abuse disclosed Jan. 16, 2022; boy removed Jan. 19, 2022
- Pattern: Nearly $7 million in earlier settlements over similar foster placements since 2019
Sources
- The Sun (San Bernardino) — Riverside County settles foster child sex abuse case for $4.2 million (2026-10-04)
- Hoodline — Riverside County to pay $4.2 million after foster child allegedly raped siblings, 8 and 4 (2026-10-05)
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