Seventeen People Now Say They Were Abused As Kids In A Washington Detention Center. Here Is What Coming Forward Decades Later Can Feel Like

Reviewed by Heard & Believed · Updated 2026-07-31

Nine more adults just told Clark County, Washington they were sexually abused as children while held at its juvenile detention facility, joining eight others who already sued. If a story like this brings up something you experienced somewhere similar, here is what to know, and why you never have to file anything to be worthy of support.

What's Being Alleged, And Where Things Stand

This week, nine more adults formally notified Clark County, Washington of their intent to sue over sexual abuse they say happened while they were held as children at the county's juvenile detention facility, sometime between 1990 and 2014, when each of them was between twelve and seventeen years old. They join eight other survivors who already filed a lawsuit against the county back in February, bringing the total number of people making these claims to seventeen.

The new claims describe abuse carried out in secluded parts of the facility, closets, showers, and children's own cells, sometimes with one staff member standing watch while another carried out the abuse. Attorneys representing the survivors say guards used both threats, like longer sentences or lost visitation, and small rewards to keep kids from telling anyone at the time. Under Washington law, the county now has sixty days to respond before any new lawsuit can formally be filed.

Why A Detention Center Adds Its Own Kind Of Weight

Being abused as a kid is hard enough to carry on its own. Being abused inside a facility where you were already labeled as 'in trouble' can add a second layer that's easy to underestimate: a fear that no one will believe a kid who was locked up in the first place, or a lingering sense that you somehow deserved less protection because of why you were there. Neither of those things is true. Being detained never reduced your right to safety, and it does not reduce how much your experience matters now.

Why More People Often Come Forward After The First Report

Attorneys representing the original eight survivors say calls kept coming in after their case became public, from people who recognized their own experience in what was described. That pattern shows up again and again in institutional abuse cases, and it isn't really about a lawsuit gaining momentum. It's about one person's willingness to speak finally giving someone else permission to feel less alone with a memory they had been carrying by themselves.

If you find yourself thinking 'that happened to me too' while reading a story like this one, that reaction is completely normal, and it does not make your experience any less your own or any less real just because someone else's came first.

Support Doesn't Require A Courtroom

You never have to file a claim, join a lawsuit, or talk to an attorney to be entitled to support. A crisis line, a therapist, or a support group can help you process what happened whether or not you ever pursue anything formally, and whether it happened five years ago or twenty five.

If reading about this case brings something back up for you, that's worth taking seriously on its own terms, separate from any legal timeline. The RAINN hotline is free, confidential, and available any time you need to talk it through, no filing required.

If You Were Ever Held In A Juvenile Facility And This Feels Familiar

This kind of story can bring up complicated feelings, especially if part of your own history involved being detained. A few things worth holding onto.

1. Being detained never lowered your right to be protected: Whatever landed you there, staff still had a duty to keep you safe, full stop.
2. Feeling doubted twice is a real and common experience: Worrying no one will believe a kid who was 'in trouble' is common, and it says nothing about whether your experience is valid.
3. You don't have to file anything to reach out for support: A hotline call or a therapy session doesn't require a legal case attached to it.
4. A crisis line can help even before you know what you want to do: You're allowed to talk it through with no plan at all.
5. It's normal for old memories to resurface when a story like this goes public: Seeing a similar case in the news can bring feelings back up years or decades later. That's a nervous system responding, not a setback.
6. Seeing others come forward can feel validating rather than like competition: Their claim being taken seriously doesn't diminish yours; it can actually make it easier to believe your own memory.
7. You're allowed to feel however you feel about the people involved, including relief: Anger, grief, numbness, or even relief that someone else is finally speaking up are all okay reactions to have, sometimes all in the same day.

You might also read

• A Conviction Just Came 35 Years After The Abuse Happened. How Is That Even Possible?
• If a Lookback Window Just Opened Where You Live
• Waiting for Resolution: How to Care for Yourself During a Long Legal Journey