![The Post and Courier | O Tempest/KFF Health News](https://ifp.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/65cf809946151.image_-1024x576.jpg)
The Post and Courier | O Tempest/KFF Health News
The South Carolina lawsuits — which involve children who live in different parts of the state and who were assigned to different social services caseworkers — aren’t the first to raise red flags about the potentially harmful effects of forensic medical exams on children. Since the 1990s, federal courts from New York to California have ruled that government agencies violate children’s and parents’ civil rights when the exams are conducted without a court order or parental consent.