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The plaintiffs alleged that Massachusetts officers and workers turned a blind eye to their alleged abuse.
BOSTON (AP) — 4 former foster kids who have been allegedly abused by a Massachusetts couple can be paid $7 million beneath a settlement with the state.
Legal professionals for the 4 introduced the settlement Friday afternoon. One of many 4 died earlier than the settlement was concluded.
The plaintiffs sued the Division of Kids and Households Companies and 17 DCF staff in Middlesex Superior Court docket, claiming their constitutional rights have been violated by the group’s indifference to the youngsters’s therapy by Raymond and Susan Blouin.
The lawsuit alleged the youngsters have been locked in canine crates, compelled to carry out intercourse acts, submerged in ice baths to the purpose of drowning and threatened with loss of life whereas beneath the couple’s care.
The plaintiffs additionally allege that DCF — then referred to as the Division of Social Companies — ignored a number of studies of abuse and was intentionally detached to the abuse allegedly occurring within the house.
The 4 lived with the couple in Oxford, Massachusetts, at varied instances from the late Nineties to 2004.
The Blouins and Susan Blouin’s boyfriend, Philip Paquette, have been charged with baby abuse in 2003 and 2004, in line with The Boston Globe. Raymond Blouin pleaded responsible and obtained two years’ probation. Susan Blouin and Paquette obtained pre-trial probation and the case was dismissed inside a yr, the Globe reported.
In 2019, after two of the victims got here ahead, the couple was charged once more, the Globe reported. The Blouins are actually dealing with one depend of assault and battery on a toddler.
The Blouins have denied the fees.
Legal professionals for the 4 former foster kids stated they hope the settlement will encourage those that have suffered abuse to return ahead.
“Our shoppers have suffered unimaginably, first as survivors of torture after which as a result of they weren’t believed,” Erica Brody, the plaintiffs’ legal professional, stated in an announcement. “We hope that this case reveals different mistreated foster kids that if they arrive ahead, their voices can be heard, and folks can be held accountable.”
The Division of Kids and Households couldn’t be reached for remark.