A Multnomah County jury issued a $29 million verdict against the Oregon Department of Human Services in a case brought against the agency claiming a 2-year-old suffered “catastrophic abuse” after ODHS failed to act in a call made to its child abuse hotline in 2017.
“DHS needs accountability to keep children safe. They got a call to the child abuse hotline, and they did nothing. We hope more than anything that the jury’s message gets through, and this will never happen again,” said a family representative in a statement.
The guardian of the child, identified as W.M in the lawsuit, sued for millions in damages, claiming ODHS failed to act when it received a call on Dec. 9, 2017, that W.M had been hospitalized with suboxone poisoning…