LA County reaches $4 billion agreement to settle sexual abuse claims at
juvenile facilities
[April 05, 2025]
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD and AMY TAXIN
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County has reached a $4 billion agreement
to settle nearly 7,000 claims of sexual abuse in juvenile facilities
since 1959, officials said Friday.
The agreement, which still needs approval from the Los Angeles County
Board of Supervisors, far surpasses a $2.6 billion settlement reached in
2022 with Boy Scouts of America that was the largest aggregate sexual
abuse settlement in U.S. history at the time.
“On behalf of the County, I apologize wholeheartedly to everyone who was
harmed by these reprehensible acts,” Fesia Davenport, the county’s chief
executive, said in a statement.
The agreement would settle lawsuits filed by thousands of people who
alleged they were mistreated and sexually abused in foster care and
juvenile detention facilities in Los Angeles County. The plaintiffs were
able to sue because of a California law that took effect in 2020 and
suspended the statute of limitations for childhood sex abuse victims to
bring cases for three years.
Many of the claims involved the MacLaren Children’s Center, which was
closed in 2003. The facility, which was intended to be a safe space for
children awaiting placement in foster homes, opened in 1961 and was
overseen by probation officials until it was placed under the county’s
Department of Children and Family Services in 1976.
One man said he was sexually abused by a physician at the facility when
he was 8 years old, while another said he was assaulted by a male staff
member in a bathroom when he was 5. Children were routinely placed in
solitary confinement, drugged and restrained in chairs at the facility,
according to court papers filed by plaintiffs.
“It is bittersweet for the survivors, because nothing is ever going to
take away what was done to them, and how badly their lives were altered
and how much they have suffered,” said Adam Slater, one of the
plaintiffs' attorneys. “However, the settlement hopefully gives them
some measure of justice and provides them with some measure of closure.”
Other private and public entities have been rocked by allegations of
wide-ranging abuse and subsequent settlements.
The 2022 settlement by Boy Scouts of America, which recently renamed
itself Scouting America, involved more than 80,000 men who said they
were molested as children by scouting leaders and others.
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Jonathan Wright, 39, holds up the T-shirt he was given when he first
went to MacLaren Children's Center in El Monte as an 8-year-old
during a news conference in Los Angeles, June 9, 2022. (AP
Photo/Christopher Weber, File)
And last year the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $800 million
to victims of clergy sexual abuse, bringing the total payout to more
than $1.5 billion.
Disclosure of the massive tentative payout by Los Angeles County comes
at a time when the nation’s largest county — home to about 10 million
residents — is facing a tightening bind of financial obligations on its
$49 billion annual budget. Officials fear hundreds of millions of
dollars for public services could vanish in Trump administration
cutbacks, while the county has seen additional costs from January’s
historic wildfires as it also deals with an ongoing homeless crisis.
Davenport recently said the county is facing a “large amount of
uncertainty” with its budget — some agencies are largely funded by
federal dollars.
The proposed agreement includes creating a countywide hotline for
reporting child sexual abuse allegations against employees and
developing a system to expedite investigations, officials said.
“By balancing justice for the victims with a commitment to reform, this
resolution ensures both acknowledgment of past wrongs and a pathway to a
safer, more accountable future,” Patrick McNicholas, one of the
plaintiffs’ attorneys, said in a statement.
The county’s claims board will consider the proposed settlement Monday.
If approved, it would be considered by the Board of Supervisors on April
29.
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Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. Associated Press writer Olga
R. Rodríguez in San Francisco contributed.
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