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Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dep’t of Social Serv.
Citation:
489 U.S. 189, 109 S.Ct. 998, 103 L.Ed.2d 249 (1989).Facts
In 1984, four-year-old Joshua DeShaney became comatose and thereafter mentally disabled, as a result of severe head injuries inflicted by his father who physically abused over a period of years. The Winnebago County Department of Social Services (the Department) took various steps to protect the child after receiving numerous complaints of the abuse, such as enrolling Joshua in a preschool program, providing his father with counseling services, and encouraging his father’s girlfriend to move out of the home. However, the Department did not act to remove Joshua from his father’s custody.
Joshua’s mother subsequently sued the Department under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
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Topic Resources
2m 6s
8m 59sTopic Outline 
