DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dept. of Social Services
United States Supreme Court
489 U.S. 189 (1989)
Winnebago County's Department of Social Services (defendant) received repeated reports that DeShaney (plaintiff) was being abused by his father and had reason to believe abuse was occurring after hospital visits and mysterious injuries, but did not remove him from his father's custody, and DeShaney was later severely and permanently beaten; DeShaney sued under § 1983 claiming Winnebago's inaction violated his due process liberty interest, and the lower courts granted the county summary judgment.
Whether, when social workers and county officials are confronted with evidence of child abuse, a failure to stop such abuse constitutes a violation of the child's liberty interests under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.