WA to pay $15M to 3 sisters abused in foster home

OLYMPIA, Wash. - The State of Washington has agreed to pay $15 million to three sisters who were sexually abused for years at a foster home in Centralia, according to attorneys representing them.

The three women allege the abuse spanned between 1990 and 2000, starting at ages four, five, and six, and lasted until they were teenagers. Two teenage sons of the foster parents are accused of carrying out the abuse.

In a press release from Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC (PCVA Law), the home the sisters were placed in was described as a "compound" with a "cult-like" environment. The release says the foster parents had seven biological children, and at times there were as many as 12 children at the home.

"[We're] grateful that our truth was told, because so many people did not believe for so long, and now it is known," said Jennifer, one of the three women who filed suit, in an interview with FOX 13 News.

The lawsuit alleges the state failed to conduct a single home safety visit for the three sisters from 1992 to 1995. It's also claimed that the state had minimal contact prior to 1992, primarily for a handful of visits from the biological father whose parental rights were eventually terminated.

"Learning that it wasn’t okay, and not that I didn’t know it wasn’t okay, just, I was so young, and it happened for so long and it was life," said Rachel, another one of the three plaintiffs. "A lot of the abusers would use like our past lives against us, even though I was only 18 months when I was removed from my parents. It was always thrown in our face. All the way until teenhood when we left the house."

"[Our parents] were very abusive to us. And that was one of the times that [Child Protective Services] did come in and say, ‘You guys can not spank these children,’ because she would hit us with the belt up and down our back, spoons, whatever, switches, she would put tablespoons of salt in our mouth, and we would have to sit cross-legged on the floor and if we drooled she would put more salt in our mouth," said Jennifer.

Social workers are required to meet with foster children on a monthly basis to ensure they are safe and protected during the placement, per policies and procedures of the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF).

"[Our abusers] made up lies that weren’t real that they would tell us, and tell us we would be just like where we came from, and our abusers would tell us we would be in a [worse] situation if we told on them," said Rachel. "When we were younger, we learned not to tell because nobody came for our help, and it was [worse] at home when they found out if we said anything to anybody at school or anybody in authority, it always got swept under the rug, and we were to blame."

According to attorney Vincent Nappo with PCVA Law, the main social worker responsible for supervising the Plaintiffs at the foster home testified she was given an overwhelming case load, unable to meet the supervision requirements for her foster children.

"There is no good excuse for a social worker to fail to do a single health and safety visit with a foster child for years and years. The State must provide the necessary resources and support to its social workers to ensure foster children are safe and protected in placement, or these types of horrific placements will continue," Nappo said.

Additionally, PCVA Law said that in 1995, the state endorsed the foster parents' adoption petition sought by the foster parents and assured the Court that the home was healthy and safe, despite mental health providers raising concerns about the sisters not being nurtured or taken care of.

The three sisters, along with most children in the home, were also being savagely beaten and emotionally abused by the foster parents under the guise of "corporal punishment," according to the release.

Mallory Allen, another attorney with PCVA Law, claims the Plaintiffs were "warehoused" at the foster home.

"The State abandoned these children and did virtually nothing to monitor their safety and well-being," Allen said. "We commend the State on the settlement, which will allow our clients to avoid a lengthy and painful jury trial. But more than anything else, our clients hope it sends a strong message to the State to be vigilant in their placements and supervision of foster children."

The lawsuit was filed in February 2022, and a three-week jury trial was scheduled to begin on Monday, July 22, according to PCVA Law.

"They called me a liar and that I was trying to destroy their family, and it didn’t’ come out until I was 17 or 18 when Sylvia came out with her story, and we were pulled aside, and the boys had admitted it had happened, but then we were forced to forgive and act like it never happened," said Rachel.

FOX 13 News reached out to the Washington Attorney General's Office for comment, but was deferred to DCYF. DCYF told FOX 13 it has no comment.