Overview
- The family filed a lawsuit alleging a 3-year-old was abused by an older child in an Office of Refugee Resettlement foster home after border agents separated her from her mother near El Paso.
- A caregiver noticed the child’s underwear was on backwards, the girl disclosed repeated abuse that caused bleeding, and a forensic exam and interview were reported to law enforcement.
- Program staff removed the older child accused of the abuse from the foster placement, while the father says officials told him only there had been an "accident."
- The girl’s father, a lawful U.S. resident, says he waited about five months to reunite because the government would not schedule his fingerprinting, and she has since been released to his care.
- The case spotlights 2025 policy changes that slowed reunifications, with average ORR custody rising to about 117 days from 30 and more than 2,300 children in care at the end of February.