A foster care agency that placed a 17-year-old who later went on to allegedly murder his foster mother cannot block all discovery of the foster child’s file, a Pennsylvania Superior Court panel has ruled in a decision that opens the door for more potential litigation in these cases.

On July 28, a three-judge Superior Court panel rejected arguments from the foster care agency, Turning Points for Children, which sought to impose a blanket privilege on all foster care records for Xavier Johnson, a teen who allegedly killed Renee Gilyard just days after she took over as his foster mother.