MacLaren Hall Sex Abuse In Los Angeles
After Decades Of Silence, Former Foster Children Allege Abuse At Maclaren Children's Center
What is MacLaren Hall?
MacLaren Children's Center (MacLaren Hall) opened in the 1940s in Los Angeles, California as a place for non-delinquent minors to be housed separate and apart from those youths who were guilty of crimes.
Over almost 4 decades, MacLaren Hall housed tens of thousands of children who were waiting for placement with foster families. Like all foster youths, MacLaren Hall residents required significant attention, including specialized medical care. For example, an estimated 60 to 85% of children in the foster care system throughout the United States have significant mental health problems.
As time went on and the county juvenile criminal facility became overcrowded, the county probation department - which ran MacLaren Hall - began placing more and more youths at MacLaren Hall, without regard for criminal background or any of the childrens' needs. At its peak, in the 1960s, MacLaren Hall housed more than 4,000 children each year.
But in 2003, following scathing sexual abuse claims, the institution shut its doors.
Why did MacLaren Hall Close?
As MacLaren Hall became more overcrowded and more foster childrens' needs went unmet, the facility felt more and more like a prison.
Children often ran away in an attempt to escape the violence and overcrowding. Former residents report over-medication, beatings, restraints, confinement to a small punishment room, rape, and other forms of horrific sexual assaults and abuse.
Rather than providing these foster children with a home, comfort, and care, the institution was underfunded and understaffed, which ultimately led to an extremely dangerous and traumatic environment. Former youth residents are alleged to have dealt with improper care, abusive discipline, overmedication, and poor living conditions, and sexual and physical abuse.
In 2002, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued Los Angeles County for failing to provide sufficient medical care for the foster children of MacLaren Hall. In 2003, the institution shut its doors in disgrace after a former resident and abuse victim filed a class action lawsuit seeking redress for the horrific sexual and other abuses that took place there.
Did You Or Somebody You Know Live In Maclaren Hall And Suffer Sexual Abuse?
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Did you or someone you knew suffer sexual abuse or sexual assault while residing at MacLaren Hall?
Did you experience any of the following:
- Contact or touching of a sexual nature
- Unsolicited or unwanted touching of genitals, buttocks, or private parts
- Being forced against one's will to touch another in a sexual manner
- Rape
- Unsolicited or unwanted touching that involves physical harm or injury
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