Eight people have filed a civil lawsuit accusing the Clark County Juvenile Detention Facility in Vancouver of decades of sexual and physical abuse by staff, with some of the alleged misconduct dating back to 1978. The complaint, filed Feb. 25, 2026, in Clark County Superior Court, argues that county policies and staffing failures let the abuse continue across generations. The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages along with court-ordered changes to hiring, oversight, and reporting practices at the facility.
According to KGW, the complaint directly names Clark County and accuses it of negligent hiring and retention, failing to investigate reports of misconduct and providing such inadequate supervision that staff could exploit blind spots inside the building. Attorneys told KGW they expect more survivors to come forward. One lawyer summed it up bluntly: “This case is not about a single bad actor; it is about an institutional failure that spanned generations.” Clark County declined to comment to the station, citing the pending litigation.
Legal context and regional trend
Washington lawmakers reshaped civil law around childhood sexual abuse in 2024. The new statute removes the civil statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse that occurs on or after June 6, 2024, while older claims are still controlled by the previous timing rules. The Washington State Legislature lists the law as taking effect June 6, 2024.
The Clark County case lands in the middle of a broader wave of litigation targeting youth facilities across Washington. In 2025, dozens of former detainees in King County filed a separate lawsuit alleging systemic abuse inside juvenile detention centers there, a case that KIRO reported had similar claims of long-running misconduct.
What the complaint describes
The new Clark County filing lays out a grim set of allegations. Plaintiffs say staff pulled children into areas with little or no oversight, including supply closets and unsupervised cells, and used that isolation to carry out abuse. They allege that some staff groomed youth with contraband, food and special privileges, then carried out strip searches that, according to the complaint, amounted to sexual assaults…