A former foster child sued Illinois’ child welfare agency this week alleging a pattern of sexual abuse at a South Side shelter.
Lawyers for Yadira Escamilla, a former resident of Aunt Martha’s shelter on the South Side, announced the lawsuit Thursday during a news conference Downtown. They argued the state failed to protect vulnerable children despite numerous reports of misconduct at the facility.
Escamilla, who is now 20, didn’t attend the news conference. But one of her lawyers, Margaret Battersby Black, read a statement from Escamilla, who insisted that it’s the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services’ “job to protect us.”
“What hurts the most is that DCFS knew what was going on, and they didn’t stop it or take steps to protect us,” Escamilla said in the statement.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the Illinois Court of Claims, seeks millions of dollars in damages from DCFS, Aunt Martha’s Integrated Care Center and A-Alert Security Services, Inc. The damages include past and future medical expenses, psychological damages, and a loss of normal life, according to the suit.
When Escamilla was first placed at Aunt Martha’s in late 2023 or early 2024, she “observed and experienced unsafe conditions within the facility and became aware of inappropriate relationships and conducts involving facility personnel and residents,” the lawsuit states.
She was moved temporarily, according to the lawsuit. But in early 2024, DCFS placed her back at Aunt Martha’s, 5001 S. Michigan Ave., and she was housed in a basement room. There, Escamilla was sexually assaulted multiple times by a security guard named Trulon Henry, despite previous complaints and warning signs that should have prompted intervention, the lawsuit states.
Henry, 41, was charged in July 2024 with sex crimes involving Escamilla and other residents. He was convicted of multiple counts of criminal sexual assault in March and is awaiting sentencing, court records show.
A onetime football standout at the University of Illinois, Henry had been convicted of armed robbery before he started working security at the shelter. An attorney for Henry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“[Escamilla] reported what happened. She testified in court. She helped put her abuser behind bars,” attorney Ben Crump said. “Now, we are going to make sure the institutions that failed her are held fully accountable.”
Attorneys described what they called a pattern of negligence by both the now-closed facility and the state officials responsible for overseeing it.
Court documents show more than 3,000 unusual incident reports were submitted to DCFS between 2018 and the facility’s closure, according to the lawsuit, which says police were called to the shelter 175 times during that period.
A separate A-Alert security guard was charged in 2013 with assaulting children at the facility, attorneys said, arguing there were multiple opportunities for authorities to address problems before Escamilla arrived.
Escamilla’s attorneys said the lawsuit aims to reform the state’s child welfare system. They asserted that foster children often enter the system after previously experiencing trauma and should be protected.
“That’s why we brought DCFS into this, and we’re going to get to the bottom of what happened here.” Battersby Black said. “The goal here is to make sure that it doesn’t happen to any other child who’s in the system because of trauma and goes to the system for help.”
The legal team encouraged other former residents who may have experienced abuse at the facility to come forward, saying accountability is necessary to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
