JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed against five Department of Children & Families employees accused of failing to monitor a foster home where a 17-month-old girl was drowned and her brother abused.

In denying a motion to dismiss, U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger said the state child abuse workers "stuck their heads in the sand" when they put the siblings in the overcrowded Jacksonville foster home.

The refusal to investigate and monitor the home showed the employees were "deliberately indifferent" to the welfare of Latiana Hamilton (pictured, left) and her older brother, Schlesinger said.

"All would agree that a person who pushes another person into a snake pit, lion den or pool of quicksand is a ... substantial cause of any resulting injuries or death directly inflicted by the snakes, lions or quicksand," Schlesinger said in an order Friday.

Latiana was beaten and drowned in a bathtub by her foster mother, Lena Cumberbatch, and her brother was abused in the home in 2001.

Cumberbatch received a mandatory life prison sentence after being convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

Attorney Dixon Bridgers, who represents the employees, said an appeal is likely to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, though no decisions have been made.

Because the case is still being litigated, DCF spokesman John Harrell would not comment on the development.

"We are reviewing the decision and are exploring our legal options," Harrell told Channel 4.

A similar lawsuit brought by the couple who adopted the boy after his sister died was dismissed in May by the 11th Circuit. That suit, the court ruled, did not show the DCF workers knew of the risk Cumberbatch presented to the children and were deliberately indifferent to it.

The appeals panel ruled that government officials are immune from lawsuits if they did not knowingly violate anyone's rights, a legal concept known as "qualified immunity,"

The U.S. Supreme Court has said the defense shields officials from the constant threat of being sued, and keeps officials from having to spend money and time on court proceedings.

The suit was amended and motions were again heard in federal court. Schlesinger ruled that the amended lawsuit can continue, saying the department ignored evidence of abuse and Cumberbatch's own statements about being unable to handle all the children DCF was sending her.

Attorneys settled cases filed against DCF on Latiana's behalf, but the cases involving her brother, now 7, weren't part of the settlement.