Institutional Abuse & Negligence

When you trust an institution with your child, your health, or the care of someone you love, you expect safety. You expect structure, supervision, basic human decency.

What you don’t expect is abuse, neglect, or a system that looks the other way.

At Have A Lawyer, we help survivors and families connect with institutional abuse and negligence attorneys who know how to take on powerful organizations—schools, churches, treatment centers, nursing homes, youth programs, and more. We also partner with mass tort and plaintiff firms looking for a reliable, ethical source of institutional abuse case referrals.

Whether you’re a survivor searching for answers or a law firm building an institutional abuse docket, this page is for you.

What Do We Mean by “Institutional Abuse”?

“Institutional abuse” is a broad term, but the lived experience is painfully specific.

It can happen in places like:

• Public and private schools, boarding schools, and daycares
• Churches and religious organizations (including LDS and other large denominations)
• Youth camps, sports programs, and clubs
• Residential treatment centers, group homes, and shelters
• Hospitals, psychiatric facilities, and rehab centers
• Nursing homes and long‑term care facilities
• Juvenile detention centers, jails, and prisons

The harm can take many forms:

• Sexual abuse or exploitation by staff, clergy, teachers, or other residents
• Physical abuse, misuse of restraints, or excessive force
• Emotional and psychological abuse, humiliation, or threats
• Grossly inadequate supervision that allows assaults or self‑harm to occur
• Negligent hiring, retention, or training of dangerous employees
• Cover‑ups, destroyed records, or retaliation against those who report

These are not “one‑off mistakes.” They are often systemic failures that fall squarely into institutional liability and mass tort territory. That’s where the right legal team matters.

For Survivors and Families: A Safe Place to Start

If you’re reading this as a survivor or a family member, you may be wondering:

• “Does what happened to me even count as abuse?”
• “Will anyone believe me this many years later?”
• “Is it too late to do something?”

You don’t have to figure that out alone.

When you reach out to Have A Lawyer, here’s what actually happens:

1. You tell your story, at your pace.
   We listen. No pressure, no legal jargon. Just a confidential conversation about what happened and what you’re hoping for.
2. We look at your options.
   Depending on the facts, your claim might fit as an individual institutional negligence lawsuit, part of a mass tort, or, in some situations, a class action. We’ll walk through the differences in plain English.
3. We match you with a vetted attorney.
   We don’t blast your info out to a list. We connect you with an institutional abuse lawyer or mass tort firm that already works on cases like yours and has the resources to see it through.

There is no cost to you for this referral. The attorneys we work with typically operate on a contingency fee—they only get paid if they’re able to recover money for you.

You’ve been let down once. You don’t need another system treating you like a case number.

Need help? Here, Have A Lawyer.

Examples of Institutional Abuse Cases We Help Connect

Our network handles a wide range of institutional abuse & negligence matters, including:

Religious and Church Abuse

• Sexual abuse by clergy, youth leaders, or other church personnel
• Claims involving large religious institutions, including LDS abuse lawsuits and other church‑related cases
• Long‑term cover‑ups, failure to report, and protection of known abusers

School, Teacher, and Youth Program Abuse

• Teacher or staff sexual abuse, harassment, or grooming
• Abuse in boarding schools, private academies, and youth programs
• Cases similar to the California teacher abuse lawsuits and other educator misconduct litigation

Residential Treatment & Group Home Negligence

• Abuse or neglect in residential treatment programs and group homes
• Lack of monitoring leading to assaults, self‑harm, or unexplained injuries
• Use of isolation, restraints, or punishment under the guise of “treatment”

Nursing Home and Long‑Term Care Abuse

• Physical or sexual abuse of elderly or disabled residents
• Neglect resulting in bedsores, malnutrition, dehydration, or falls
• Wrongful death tied to chronic understaffing and poor supervision

Hospital, Behavioral Health & Detention Settings

• Assault or abuse by staff or other patients in hospitals or psych units
• Inadequate supervision in behavioral health units and rehab facilities
• Abuse and neglect in juvenile detention centers and correctional institutions

If your situation doesn’t fit neatly into one of these categories, that’s okay. Institutional abuse rarely does. A short, private conversation is often the easiest way to see whether there is a viable claim.

How Have A Lawyer Fits In

We’re not a law firm. We’re a legal referral platform with a focus on:

• Institutional abuse and negligence
• Mass tort and complex litigation
• Dangerous drugs and product liability

That means our core job is connecting:

• Survivors and families with trauma‑informed institutional abuse attorneys, and
• Attorneys and firms with qualified, pre‑screened institutional abuse leads they can actually work up.

For Survivors

• Free, confidential case review
• No obligation to file a lawsuit
• Matched with attorneys based on case type, jurisdiction, and experience—not whoever is closest

For Attorneys and Law Firms

• Access to institutional abuse and mass tort referrals from people actively seeking help
• Visibility on a platform dedicated to serious injury and complex litigation, not general practice
• Opportunities for co‑counsel and joint ventures on large institutional abuse and child sexual abuse dockets

If you’re building or expanding an institutional abuse practice, Have A Lawyer can help you reach survivors who are already looking for experienced counsel.

Why Attorneys Partner With Us on Institutional Abuse Cases

Firms come to us for institutional abuse referrals for a few key reasons:

• Focused Case Types
  Our intake and content are geared toward mass torts, institutional abuse, dangerous drugs, and product liability—not traffic tickets or small claims.
• Pre‑Screened, High‑Intent Claimants
  By the time a survivor fills out our forms, they’ve read about institutional abuse, seen our other mass tort and child abuse content, and are actively asking for legal help.
• Nationwide Reach
  We serve claimants across the United States, making it easier for firms to build a national docket in institutional abuse and negligence.
• Ethical, Survivor‑Centered Messaging
  Our approach respects trauma and keeps survivors’ needs at the center, which reflects positively on the firms we recommend.

If you’re an attorney interested in institutional abuse referrals, mass tort case generation, or co‑counsel opportunities, you can start the conversation through our “For Attorneys” section or contact options.

Take the Next Step

You don’t have to decide everything today. You only have to take one step.

• If you’re a survivor or family member, use the secure form on this page or call +1 800‑329‑8272 to see if you qualify for an institutional abuse or negligence claim.
• If you’re an attorney or law firm, reach out to explore how we can work together on institutional abuse, child sexual abuse, and other mass tort matters.

Need help? Here, Have A Lawyer.