Deshaney V. Winnebago County Social Services (1989)

DeShaney v. Winnebago County Social Services (1989) was a case in the 1980’s that was seen by the supreme court. The decision of this case was essentially that the State is not violating a child’s right to Due Process in the Fourteenth Amendment (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) when they fail to protect them from private violence (child abuse).
In 1983, the mother of Joshua Deshaney filed a case against the Winnebago County Social Services for her son. Prior to this Joshua Deshaney was granted to his father in a divorce hearing. As an infant, Joshua was moved to Neenah, Wisconsin, by his father, where his father quickly remarried. That marriage ended in a divorce as well and those divorce hearings, the woman claimed that the father was abusing Joshua. The father denied these claims and Social Services looked the other way. Soon after, Joshua was admitted to the hospital …show more content…
Social services made note of this, but did not pursue it any farther. Later Joshua was hospitalized again and when social services visited the next two times, he was sick.
In March of 1984, at four years old,Joshua was so severely beaten that he was put into a coma. Due to hemorrhaging on the brain, which was caused by long term damage to the head, his brain damage was so bad that it was anticipated that he would be “profoundly retarded” for the rest of his life. The father was arrested, but Joshua was left brain damaged.
Joshua’s mother sued the county social services for not stepping up and protecting her child, even with evidence of abuse. The supreme court decided that Joshua’s rights were not violated by the state. The state cannot prevent someone from Due process, but it is not their responsibility to protect those rights, particularly from private violence. Essentially, the state cannot protect a child from their