Justice for Kids® Expands Fight for Abused and Neglected Foster Children Across Florida and Oregon

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

National child advocacy law practice offers free case reviews for foster care abuse, disability-related mistreatment, and adoption disclosure negligence through its Fort Lauderdale headquarters and Portland, Oregon office

PORTLAND, Ore. and FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — July 10, 2026 — Justice for Kids®, the dedicated child advocacy division of the law firm Kelley Kronenberg, today reaffirmed its commitment to representing foster children who have been abused, neglected, or catastrophically injured in the care of the very systems built to protect them. With child welfare agencies in both Florida and Oregon facing renewed scrutiny over unsafe placements, ignored abuse reports, and concealed adoption histories, the practice is urging families, caregivers, guardians ad litem, educators, and former foster youth in both states to understand that legal remedies exist — and that consultations are free and confidential.

Foster children occupy the most vulnerable position in American law. Removed from their homes by court order, they cannot choose where they live, cannot leave a dangerous placement, and cannot hire counsel on their own. Courts have long held that this dependence creates a heightened constitutional duty: when the government takes custody of a child, it must provide reasonably safe conditions and protection from known dangers. When agencies, contractors, foster homes, group facilities, or adoption providers breach that duty, civil litigation is frequently the only mechanism that produces both answers and accountability.

Two States, One Pattern of Systemic Failure

Florida operates one of the nation’s largest privatized child welfare systems, with the Department of Children and Families overseeing a network of regional lead agencies and subcontracted case managers. That fragmentation has repeatedly diffused responsibility when children are harmed. Civil suits brought by former foster youth have alleged licensed homes that stayed open for decades despite documented complaints, assaults in group facilities where supervision standards went unenforced, and children trafficked directly out of state placements. Florida’s sovereign immunity caps add a further obstacle, often requiring federal civil rights claims or actions against private contractors to secure full compensation — work that demands counsel steeped in child welfare litigation.

Oregon’s system has been reshaped by federal class actions documenting children cycled through dozens of placements, shipped to abusive out-of-state institutions, and lodged overnight in hotels and agency offices. Although the state accepted court-monitored reform obligations in a 2022 settlement, subsequent oversight reports and investigative coverage confirm that placement shortages, caseworker turnover, and unsafe temporary lodging persist — with teenagers and children with disabilities bearing the heaviest burden. Families confronting injuries, regression, or abuse disclosures increasingly retain an experienced Oregon foster care neglect attorney to obtain the agency records that internal investigations never volunteer.

“Every one of these cases begins with a promise the government made to a child and broke,” said Justin Grosz, Partner and Co-Business Unit Leader of the Justice for Kids division, who is licensed in Oregon and leads the firm’s Portland practice. “Our job is to find out what the system knew, when it knew it, and why nobody acted — and then to make sure the child, not the agency, is made whole.”

Children with Disabilities at Greatest Risk

Children with autism, intellectual disabilities, communication disorders, and complex medical needs are dramatically overrepresented among abuse victims in foster and institutional settings, precisely because they are least able to report what is happening to them. Federal law — including the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504, and the IDEA — imposes heightened obligations on agencies and facilities serving these children. Justice for Kids has built particular depth as a disabled child foster care abuse law firm in Oregon, pursuing claims involving improper restraint and seclusion, unnecessary institutionalization, denial of required services, and sexual or physical abuse of children who could not speak for themselves. Families seeking an Oregon attorney for disabled child abuse can request a no-cost evaluation through the firm’s Portland office.

Wrongful Adoption: Concealment at the Adoption Table

The practice also highlighted a growing category of claims: adoption agency negligence in failing to disclose the known histories of hard-to-place children. In these “wrongful adoption” cases, agencies under pressure to achieve permanency present adoptive families with sanitized files — omitting documented sexual abuse and resulting behaviors toward other children, violence, fire-setting, psychiatric hospitalizations, or diagnoses such as reactive attachment disorder and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. When the concealed history erupts inside the new home, siblings can be victimized, adoptions can collapse, and the adopted child suffers yet another abandonment that honest disclosure might have prevented.

Both Florida and Oregon law require placing agencies to compile and share a child’s medical, psychological, and social background with adoptive parents before placement. Courts nationwide recognize claims for intentional misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, and negligent nondisclosure when agencies fall short. Because the decisive evidence sits inside confidential agency files, families who suspect they were misled should promptly consult an Oregon adoption negligence attorney or an adoption disclosure negligence law firm in Oregon — or the firm’s Florida headquarters for matters arising in that state — since limitation periods may begin when the concealment is discovered.

A National Model, Now Serving the Pacific Northwest

Justice for Kids was founded in Fort Lauderdale by Howard M. Talenfeld, a nationally recognized Florida child advocate whose decades of landmark injury and civil rights litigation on behalf of children harmed in state systems — together with leadership roles in national child advocacy organizations — established the model of a practice devoted exclusively to children failed by government systems. Responding to the documented crisis in the Northwest, the firm opened its Portland office to serve families throughout Oregon.

All Oregon matters are handled by Oregon-licensed counsel under Grosz, a trial lawyer with more than 230 jury verdicts. The Portland team operates as a child neglect law firm for abused foster children in Oregon, reviewing claims involving physical and sexual abuse in foster homes, assaults in group homes and residential treatment centers, hoteling-related harm, failures to investigate hotline reports, school-based abuse of children in care, and negligent adoption placements.

“Reports get screened out. Investigations get closed. Families are told there’s nothing more to be done,” Grosz added. “Civil discovery changes that conversation. Licensing files, prior complaints, internal emails — the truth is almost always in the records, and we know how to get them.”

Anyone searching for a Portland foster care child neglect law firm or a Portland foster care abuse injury lawyer can contact the office directly for a confidential consultation. All matters are handled on contingency; families pay no fees unless there is a recovery.

Immediate Safety First

The firm reminds the public that suspected abuse should always be reported immediately: to law enforcement in emergencies, to the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-96-ABUSE, or to the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline at 1-855-503-SAFE. Preserving placement paperwork, disclosure packets, medical records, photographs, and correspondence can prove critical to any later claim. Statutes of limitations are extended for minors in both states, and special rules govern childhood sexual abuse claims — meaning many survivors who assume their time has passed still hold viable claims.

Contact — Oregon Office

Justice for Kids® 6500 S. Macadam Avenue, Suite 380 Portland, OR 97239 Phone: 503-783-8481 Toll-Free: 844-4KIDLAW (844-454-3529) Web: justiceforkids.com/where-we-protect-kids/oregon

Contact — Florida Headquarters

Justice for Kids®, a division of Kelley Kronenberg Fort Lauderdale, Florida Toll-Free: 844-4KIDLAW (844-454-3529) Serving families statewide.

About Justice for Kids®

Justice for Kids® is the child advocacy division of Kelley Kronenberg, dedicated exclusively to representing children abused, neglected, or injured in foster care, child protective systems, adoption placements, residential treatment facilities, group homes, schools, and disability service systems. Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with an office in Portland, Oregon, the practice provides free, confidential case evaluations and represents children and families on a contingency basis nationwide where permitted.

This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship.