Huron County Jury Awards $600,000 to Estate of Slain Foster Child

Mike Simon

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On March 23, a Huron County, Ohio, jury ruled that the county and its child welfare agency were responsible for the 2004 wrongful death of a child placed into foster care and killed by the foster father with whom she was placed. The child was stabbed five times by her foster father and allowed to bleed to death in a barn on his property.

According to witnesses in the trial, the agency was aware of several child abuse charges against the foster father, but still approved him as a foster parent.

According to reports, the jury asked during deliberations if it could specify where the award would go, but was instructed that that was outside the realm of their duties. At least one juror stated after the fact that if they could have specified that the money would go to the child's siblings the award would have been much higher.

The county is considering an appeal.