San Francisco, August 16, 2024
A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed in the beating death of an 18-month-old child in Antioch, alleging that a litany of individuals and agencies charged with protecting the tiny girl utterly failed in their duties and led directly to her death as the result of trauma inflicted by her biological parents.
The case, filed this week in Federal District Court on behalf of the two older siblings of the toddler, names the following defendants as negligently responsible for her horrific death: the City of Antioch, Antioch Police Department, Contra Costa Child Protective Services, Contra Costa County Regional Health Foundation, and a childcare facility, The Learning Center, as well as the toddler’s biological parents, Jessika Fulcher and Worren Young, Sr.
The child was removed from her parent’s custody within weeks of her birth in February 2021 because she was in danger of neglect and abuse. Yet, over the next 16 months, the very people and institutions who were supposed to protect the toddler and her siblings failed to report obvious signs of abuse and/or failed to take action to prevent further trauma to the girl.
The child died on August 26, 2022, from trauma so severe that it severed her pancreas and caused bleeding in her brain, according to doctors and the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages, including punitive damages, against the agencies and individuals named as responsible in the legal action.
“This child--who was still learning to walk--was brutally tortured and died a horrific death, all because the entire system that was supposed to protect her failed this innocent 18-month-old child,” said Brett Schreiber, attorney for the plaintiffs and partner at the Singleton Schreiber law firm. “While her parents committed the physical abuse that killed her, their abuse was entirely enabled and abetted by social workers, police, hospitals and daycare centers who should have stopped them.”
A juvenile court judge removed the toddler from the custody of her parents in March 2021, shortly after her birth. When the child was born, both she and her mother had methamphetamine in their systems. In addition, both parents had outstanding warrants in Georgia. The children were placed in foster care.
Within weeks of the judge’s decision, however, Contra Costa County Child Protective Services (CPS) began a process intended to lead to reuniting the children with their parents, beginning with a “case plan” requiring close supervision of the parents. The case plan required the parents to submit to regular drug testing. The suit alleges that they missed half of these mandated tests and failed many that they took.
A doctor at Pittsburgh Health Center further noted injuries to the toddler, but neither the doctor nor the hospital notified CPS, and CPS never requested the hospital’s records.
Nonetheless, CPS soon allowed overnight visitations for the children with the parents, and by September 2021, the parents would regain custody by concealing these and other facts from the judge.
The toddler returned to a household in turmoil, with Antioch police visiting the home at least three times in 2022. Yet, the children remained in the home, and no referral to CPS was made, even though the father was finally arrested for domestic violence and battery. The child’s daycare center, The Learning Center in Antioch, also alerted the mother regarding significant bruising on the toddler but failed to make a mandated referral to CPS.
On August 25, 2022, Antioch Police Department officers and paramedics were called to the child’s home by her mother, who reported that the girl was having trouble breathing. The girl was rushed to the hospital, where doctors discovered she was the victim of severe, intentional injuries.
Her parents left the hospital during the night, saying they were going out to smoke, but never returned. The girl died the following morning; a juvenile court hearing in April 2023 concluded that one or both of the parents were responsible for the fatal injuries.
“This was a complete dereliction of duty that resulted in the death of one young child and the lifelong loss and trauma of two others,” Schreiber said. “On behalf of those siblings, we are asking the court not only to compensate them for the life-long emotional scarring they will suffer, but also to punish those who failed to prevent this tragedy so that it never happens again.”
The case is O.Y., W.Y., and A.Y. v. County of Contra Costa, City of Antioch, Jessika Fulcher, Worren Young, Sr., Colleen Sullivan, Flynne Lewis, Contra Costa Regional Health Foundation, The Learning Center, Raji Ponnaluri, and Does 1 through 50, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Singleton Schreiber is a client-centered law firm, specializing in mass torts/multidistrict litigation, fire litigation, personal injury/wrongful death, civil rights, environmental law, and sexual abuse/trafficking. Over the last decade, the firm has recovered more than $2.5 billion for clients who have been harmed and sought justice. The firm also has the largest fire litigation practice in the country, having represented over 20,000 victims of wildfire, most notably serving plaintiffs in litigation related to the 2023 Maui wildfires, the Colorado Marshall wildfire, the Washington Gray wildfire, and others.
For any questions, please contact klyons@singletonschreiber.com
