Child Abuse Cases in Los Angeles, CA
Our LA Injury Attorney Can Help You Seek Justice
Emotional, sexual and physical abuse of children has devastating long-term consequences for a child’s future. If your loved one has suffered any kind of abuse at the hands of another, call a Los Angeles child abuse lawyer at our firm and discuss your options for filing a claim for damages.
Types of Abuse
A child may suffer different types of abuse when he or she is in the care of another. The abuse may be physical and may involve kicking, hitting, punching and beating. Take for instance, a baby that is abused and shaken violently in the care of a foster parent.
Abuse can also be emotional, and this can include verbal or psychological abuse. The worst type of abuse however, and one that gets the most attention, is the sexual abuse of children. Such abuse may be perpetrated by individuals acting alone, or may involve employees of an organization which act to conceal the abuse.
Over the years, the Catholic Church in California has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to settle multiple charges of child sexual abuse involving children who were molested by clergymen across the state. Dioceses across the country have faced similar lawsuits. The Boy Scouts of America is another organization that has also faced lawsuits that claimed the organization ignored abuse of boys by leaders for years.
Sexual Abuse Damages
When a child is sexually abused, there are criminal laws that will apply. However, the criminal penalties are only meant to punish the perpetrator of the abuse under the law. They are not meant to compensate the victims or their family for the losses they have suffered. Parents can however file a civil personal injury lawsuit to recover damages on behalf of their child.
Damages can help cover the psychological counseling and therapy that a child surviving abuse can expect to require over the course of his or her lifetime. Abuse causes long-term and possibly permanent harm to a child’s psyche, and has been linked to a number of destructive practices as the child moves into adulthood, including delinquency, promiscuity, substance abuse, alcohol addiction and other behaviors.
Tell Us What Happened
If you believe that your loved one is being abused, take legal action immediately. Take the child out of the care of the abusive adult, and report the abuse to the nearest police station. Then, call a Los Angeles child abuse lawyer at Effres & Associates. For more than 30 years, we have helped victims of child abuse obtain civil justice against those responsible for the abuse. We offer our services for residents throughout Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura, and all surrounding counties.
Call (818) 696-4234 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney at our Southern California firm today.