We are experienced Chicago lawyers who help people with tough cases throughout Illinois. Call us any time for a free, confidential consultation at 312-346-5320.

One area we’ve been able to help a lot of people is with sexual abuse lawsuits against Illinois group homes and rehab centers. These tragic cases occur in a variety of forms.

The most common and probably the worst is when residents are sexually abused by people who have power over them. I’m talking about instances where a supervisor uses their position of power to make someone do something they don’t want to do. Or in cases of minors, have them do something they can’t legally consent to.

We also have helped in a lot of cases where staff members take advantage of access to kids or residents. In a recent case we got involved with, a non verbal adult was raped by a janitor in a bathroom. The group home she was in should never have let the janitor be alone with her in the first place. This is a sadly common problem as many of these facilities are sorely understaffed. When that happens it creates opportunity and sometimes bad people take advantage of that.

You trust these facilities with your loved ones and expect that they will have rules and safety measures in place to protect them. Even when a facility is understaffed there are things that can be done to make sure that abuse doesn’t occur such as having cameras, restricting access to certain areas, etc. When these facilities fail in their obligations, they can and should be sued.

And sometimes they are negligent for failing to supervise their residents and/or putting them in a dangerous situation. We are helping in one case against a rehab facility where a boy was raped by his roommate. There was a large age and size disparity between the two of them.

The saddest cases we’ve been involved with probably involve the developmentally disabled. They might not even know they are being abused and in many cases can’t actually give consent. They deserve a group home that provides protection, security and comfort and should be free from any type of sexual or physical abuse.

We encourage family members to be the biggest advocates possible for their loves ones. Studies show that many of these abuses are preventable.

The Illinois Department of Human Services is responsible for regulating group homes. If you suspect something has happened you should call them and call the police. And if you want to discuss a lawsuit against one of these facilities, contact us any time. All cases are handled on a contingency basis which means that there is no fee if the lawsuit isn’t successful.