Parents Sue Indiana School District Over Bullying That Led To Daughter's Suicide Attempts

Despite efforts from different groups and initiatives, bullying is still a problem in most schools. It could be argued that bullying has instead gotten worse thanks to the boom of social media, leading to cyberbullying among other things.

But two parents from Indiana are now pushing back against their local school district for how bullying affected their child.

A couple, who has remained unnamed, has filed lawsuits in the Southern District Court of Indiana against Franklin Community School Corp. over bullying. The complaint filed claims that the parents tried multiple times to tell the school about their 14-year-old daughter’s problems at school. Specifically, they feel the school didn’t do enough to stop the bullying and harassment that she was suffering from classmates.

The complaint explained that their daughter is autistic and suffers from ADHD and depression. These conditions made her a prime target for bullying at school, which allegedly led to suicidal thoughts.

“R.N. became so depressed that she developed suicidal thoughts, at one point telling an adult that she believed that going to Heaven would cure her autism,” the plaintiffs said in the complaint. They also claim that their daughter said: “that going to Heaven would cure her autism.”

This was followed by two suicide attempts by their daughter, one in the spring of 2017 and a second in the spring of 2018. And once the parents confronted the school with this information, they claim the school told them it was done “for attention.”

The plaintiffs are looking to hold the district of Franklin, Indiana accountable for the alleged inaction and indifference that has been shown towards their daughter.