Lawsuit filed against Contra Costa Co., Antioch over death of 18-month-old girl
A lawsuit alleges the city of Antioch, Contra Costa County, a child care facility and the parents of an 18-month-old child were negligent in the child's death in 2022.
Filed in federal court in San Francisco last week, the suit was filed on behalf of the girl's two older siblings, a 4-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl who have since been adopted.
The suit specifies the city of Antioch, Antioch Police Department, Contra Costa County Child Protective Services, Contra Costa Regional Health Foundation, child care facility The Learning Experience, and the toddler's biological parents, Jessika Fulcher and Worren Young Sr.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said in a statement the child died Aug. 26, 2022, "from trauma so severe that it severed her pancreas and caused bleeding in her brain."
The suit alleges the child was removed from her parents' custody within weeks of her birth in Feb. 2021 because she was in danger of neglect and abuse.
Brett Schreiber, attorney for the plaintiffs and partner at the law firm Singleton Schreiber, said both mother and child had methamphetamine in their systems when the girl was born and both parents had outstanding warrants in Georgia. Their children were placed in foster care.
Schreiber said within weeks of the judge's decision, Child Protective Services began the process of reuniting the children with their parents, beginning with a case plan requiring close supervision of the parents. The plan required the parents to take drug tests, half of which Schreiber said they missed. He said they failed others.
But the children ended up back with their parents. The suit says over the following 16 months, "the very people and institutions who were supposed to protect the toddler and her siblings failed to report obvious signs of abuse and/or failed to take action to prevent further trauma to the girl."
"This child—who was still learning to walk—was brutally tortured and died a horrific death, all because the entire system that was supposed to protect her failed this innocent 18-month-old child," Schreiber said in a statement. "While her parents committed the physical abuse that killed her, their abuse was entirely enabled and abetted by social workers, police, hospitals and day care centers who should have stopped them."
A spokesperson for Contra Costa County said Tuesday morning the county hadn't been served with the suit and couldn't comment.
Schreiber said a Pittsburg Health Center doctor noted injuries on the toddler, but didn't notify Child Protective Services, which didn't request the hospital's records.
"Nonetheless, CPS soon allowed overnight visitations for the children with the parents, and by September 2021 enabled the parents to regain custody by concealing these and other facts from the judge," the statement said.
Antioch police allegedly visited the home at least three times in 2022. Yet the children remained in the home and no referral to CPS was made, even though the father was finally arrested for domestic violence and battery, the suit says.
Antioch Acting Police Chief Brian Addington said Tuesday morning the department can't comment on pending litigation.
The suit also alleges the child's daycare center, The Learning Experience in Antioch, also alerted the mother regarding significant bruising on the toddler yet failed to make a mandated referral to CPS.
The Learning Experience didn't return a message requesting comment Tuesday.
Schrieber said that on Aug. 25, 2022, Antioch police and paramedics were called to the child's home by her mother, who said the girl was having trouble breathing. First responders rushed her to a hospital, where doctors allegedly discovered she was the victim of severe, intentional injuries.
The parents allegedly left the hospital during the night saying they were going out to smoke, but never returned. The girl died the following morning; a court hearing in April 2023 concluded that one or both parents were responsible for the fatal injuries.
A spokesperson for the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday there were no open cases filed against either of the parents.
The plaintiffs' spokesperson Sam Singer said Young is currently incarcerated in Valley State Prison in Chowchilla in Madera County after an unrelated mayhem conviction. He didn't know Fulcher's location.
"This was a complete dereliction of duty that resulted in the death of one young child and the lifelong loss and trauma for two others," Schreiber said. "On behalf of those siblings, we are asking the court not only to compensate them for the life-long emotional scarring they will suffer, but also to punish those who failed to prevent this horrible tragedy so that it never happens again."
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages, including punitive damages against the agencies and individuals named as responsible in the legal action.