State to pay $4M to former foster youths
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Florida will pay nearly $4 million to two children for letting them stay in a Hernando County home where they had been starved and abused by their foster parents.
Department of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon confirmed the settlement on Tuesday and called the case “horrific.”
His agency last month agreed to pay $700,000 into a trust fund for John Joseph Edwards Jr., 19, and $3.275 million to his 15-year-old half sister. Their foster parents, Lori and Arthur “Tommy” Allain, were sentenced to 25 years in prison for child abuse and neglect in 2006.
“I don’t think any amount of money can restore what they lost because of inaction on the part of the state,” Sheldon said. “I was just shocked what occurred. I’m hoping that we have sufficiently changed the culture in the department that this kind of thing would not happen again.”
The girl, then 10 years old, weighed only 29 pounds when she was removed from the Allains’ home. Authorities said the couple kept her in a locked room with only a bucket for a toilet. The Allains raised the two children for about four years after a friend of the couple lost custody of them.
An agency panel that investigated said countless child welfare workers missed or ignored signs of abuse and found they allowed it to escalate.
Sheldon said the trust fund will pay for long-term therapy both victims will need. The payment settles lawsuits against the state in federal and Florida courts.
The $4 million settlement will not need the approval of the Florida legislature, which is normally required in negligence cases against the state that exceed $200,000. That’s because most of the payment stems from the federal case, which exempts it from the state’s normal requirements.
“Hopefully it means they get a chance,” said Gary Randal Gossett, a Sebring lawyer who represented the victims. “The chance they should have had before and didn’t get.”
The agency also has agreed to settle a lawsuit by Edwards’ biological father, John Joseph Edwards Sr., for $25,000. He sued Florida for violating his civil rights after a court ruled the state didn’t try hard enough to find him before taking away his parental rights.
Department of Corrections records show that John Joseph Edwards Jr. is
currently serving a three-year sentence for burglary and grand theft.
A Children and Families spokeswoman said that his sister has been adopted and no longer is in state custody.
The agency has moved aggressively in the last 21?2 years to settle dozens of lawsuits alleging the state failed to do enough to prevent child abuse.
Sheldon said that the department’s philosophy now is that it “should own up to the mistake.” He said delaying the settlement of such cases also results in spending more on lawyers than helping children.
“When you sit on cases and delay and delay, that adds up costs,” Sheldon said.