Survivors across Washington are coming forward with accounts of sexual abuse by staff at juvenile detention centers, state youth camps, and juvenile rehabilitation facilities. The accounts span decades and facility types — state-operated camps and rehabilitation schools run by Washington's Juvenile Rehabilitation system, and county-run detention centers — and describe a recurring pattern: staff using authority over young people in custody to abuse them during routine procedures like cell checks, searches, and laundry duty, supervisors who failed to intervene, and retaliation against children who tried to report.
Survivors have brought civil lawsuits against the counties that operated local juvenile detention centers and against the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families and its Juvenile Rehabilitation division, which ran state youth camps and rehabilitation schools such as Green Hill School, Echo Glen, Maple Lane, and the now-closed Naselle Youth Camp. Some claims have already resulted in settlements — including multimillion-dollar recoveries tied to county detention facilities and state-run camps — and new lawsuits naming additional facilities continue to be filed. A 2024 change to Washington law removed the civil filing deadline for childhood sexual abuse going forward, and longstanding discovery rules give many older survivors time to come forward once they connect their injuries to the abuse. Lawyers are reviewing new claims from former residents of facilities across the state.
If you were sexually abused as a child while placed in a Washington juvenile facility, the law provides a path to accountability — and to recognition of what was taken from you.
