Foster Care Agency Negligence


Foster care agencies exist to protect children. When they fail in that responsibility, the results are devastating. Our firm focuses exclusively on cases where children were injured or killed due to agency negligence—not custody disputes or disagreements about removal decisions.

What Negligence Looks Like

  • Unsecured placements: Children with long histories of running away placed in non-secure environments, only to flee again and suffer tragic consequences.
  • Failure to intervene: Foster youth groomed and exploited, even as warning signs like truancy and missed appointments piled up.
  • Ignored medical needs: Children with serious conditions allowed to decline without monitoring until it was too late.

Our Litigation Experience

We have led some of Missouri’s most significant foster care negligence cases:

  • Case One: A teenage girl with a history of running away was repeatedly placed in unsecured environments, including on a cot inside the agency’s office building. Each time she fled, she fell into dangerous situations—suffering rape, drug overdoses, and hospitalizations when she missed critical medication. Ultimately, after yet another escape, she was found deceased.
  • Case Two: A young boy in foster care gained access to fentanyl because the agency had no effective drug-screening or safety procedures in place. He overdosed and survived, but with catastrophic brain damage that left him permanently disabled.
  • Case Three: A teenage girl was repeatedly raped while in foster care, even though her therapist had explicitly warned the placement agency she was being groomed and was at severe risk. Those warnings were ignored, and the abuse continued unchecked.

Why We Litigate These Cases

These were not unavoidable tragedies. They were preventable. They happened because agencies ignored warnings, cut corners, and failed to protect the very children they were entrusted to serve. Our work brings justice to families and pressures agencies to reform their practices so other children are not put at risk.

I now handle these cases with my law partner, Geordie McGonagle, at my newly-formed law firm: McGonagle Spencer Johnson, LLC (www.mcgonagelspencer.com).  Please call me there at 816-221-2222.  I will answer your questions and tell you how I can be your voice and advocate for justice and closure.