Six of the youngest 13 Turpin siblings who were rescued from decades of abuse by their parents have alleged in lawsuits they were then physically and sexually abused by their new foster parents and even forced eat their own vomit.
The siblings have now filed lawsuits against California’s Riverside County and a foster care provider over the alleged abuse.
Court papers state that the foster parents threatened to put their hands in electric sockets or even return them to their abusive biological parents.
They also claim they were overfed to the point of having eating disorders, kept from contacting their older siblings, and suffered abuse “including but not limited to pulling their hair, hitting them with a belt and striking their heads”.
The complaints state that the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigated and arrested the foster parents in March 2021.
ChildNet Youth and Family Services and Foster Family Network are both named as defendants in the cases.
The lawsuits state that the county contracted with ChildNet to place the siblings in foster homes, with six of them going to a foster family who had previously been accused of abuse and neglect.
“We look forward to providing the facts at the appropriate time in court,” Brett Lewis, director of development and communications for ChildNet, told The Desert Sun.
“Our agency has been serving California’s most vulnerable, traumatized youth for over 50 years. We have a strong track record of providing excellent care and continue to demonstrate our commitment to these children.”
The County’s Department of Public Social Services said in a statement that its staff “deeply care about the safety and well-being of every single child under our care” and added, “our hearts go out to the Turpin siblings”.
Riverside County has hired former federal judge Stephen Larson to investigate the allegations and review the county’s ability to care for children and dependent adults.
David and Louise Turpin were arrested in January 2018, after one of their children, Jordan Turpin, escaped from the family home in Perris, California, and called the police.
Investigators found that 13 siblings, aged two to 29, had been kept in horrific conditions for decades and appeared to have little knowledge of the outside world.
In February 2019, both Turpin parents pleaded guilty to a string of felonies, including cruelty to a dependent child, child cruelty, torture, and false imprisonment. They were sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years
