Vista Maria, a child welfare agency in Dearborn Heights, is facing a civil lawsuit in which five women and one girls allege the Dearborn Heights nonprofit that was supposed to protect them became a “house of horrors.”
The lawsuit — which was filed Monday, April 13, in Wayne County Circuit Court — accused the nonprofit of more than two decades of psychological, physical and sexual abuse, as well as ongoing neglect and trauma.
“All plaintiffs were minors at the time they were placed into Vista Maria,” the announcement from the two firms filing the suit — Grewal Law in Okemos, and Moose Law in Farmington Hills — said the plaintiffs had “no reason to suspect the facility would become a house of horrors” or that others “would cause them injury.”
The lawyers said there were more cases.
But in many, too much time has passed for them to be pursued in court.
The Free Press left a phone and two email messages with Vista Maria, which traces its origins in metro Detroit back more than a century to the late 1800s. The agency, however, has been under increasing scrutiny by news outlets in recent months.
Ayanna Neal of Grewal Law framed the lawsuit as an effort to seek justice.
“The claims laid out by each survivor were hard to believe at first,” Neal, who publicly raised the allegations at a news conference in February, said. But the attorneys found “their stories were too similar to be made up.”
Vista Maria’s residential program closed amid challenges
Vista Maria announced in October that it was ending its residential youth treatment program, which had dwindled to just 11 girls, who were being relocated to other facilities. It also said that about 150 staff would be laid off.
Maria Vista blamed a combination of factors, which it identified as “social, systemic and regulatory,” that had “made it increasingly challenging to care for youth whose mental health needs have grown more acute and complex.”
At the time, though, it emphasized it is not closing.
But, the agency clarified, it would “continue to strengthen our community-based programs, such as foster care, independent living, and juvenile justice services, which serve hundreds of young people and families each year.”
Vista Maria’s long history in metro Detroit
A fixture in the metro Detroit community for years, five Sisters of the Good Shepherd established the home on Fort Street in Detroit in 1883 as a place for young girls and women who were struggling.
By the turn of the century, more than 200 were being cared for by the sisters. The Ford family later deeded the 50 acres on West Warren Avenue in Dearborn Heights to the agency for $1 and helped build residence halls, a school and auditorium.
In 1942, the House of the Good Shepherd became Vista Maria.
Allegations range from humiliation to sexual abuse
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs detailed abuse ranging from suffering, from embarrassment and humiliation to emotional distress, depression, and psychological harm and physical injuries requiring medical treatment.
The plaintiffs and other survivors mentioned in the suit were placed at Vista Maria by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services through family court orders in a juvenile or neglect and abuse case or through a foster care placement.
Of the six in the lawsuit that was filed, five are now adults and one is a teenager.
They said they were sexually assaulted, given marijuana, stripped naked and locked in a room, denied food, encouraged to fight as staff watched, smacked with rulers, and threatened with punishment if they told anyone what had happened.
In many cases, the statute of limitations had lapsed for bringing a suit, but for one of the plaintiffs, who is now 40, ongoing therapy “recently uncovered previously suppressed memories of abuse that occurred at age 13 while living at Vista Maria,” which is an exception to the time limitation.
Attorneys say more victims may come forward
The two firms bringing the lawsuit also claimed there are more victims and more lawsuits could be filed, a threat that is often used as a settlement strategy. Fifty-five former Vista Maria residents, the firm said, allege “sexual, emotional, and physical abuse while living as children at the facility.”
More survivors, the firms added, could come forward.
“This is not just about what happened to a few individuals,” said Moose Scheib of Moose Law, adding that the women were abused for years. “This is about a system that failed the vulnerable young women it was entrusted to protect.”
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Vista Maria sued over decades of alleged abuse of young girls: ‘House of horrors’
Reporting by Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
