WARNING: This story contains information that is graphic in nature and could be disturbing to some.
Four people abused as children by foster parents in a Massachusetts-licensed foster home decades ago will receive $7 million in a settlement with the Department of Children and Families and social workers, their attorney announced Friday.
NBC10 Boston has reached out to DCF for comment on the deal. The Blouins have declined to comment on the allegations against them.
The former foster children had filed a civil lawsuit against the state, social workers and the former foster family in Oxford, Ray and Sue Blouin, alleging that warning signs of physical, mental and sexual abuse in the 1990s and 2000s were ignored for years. The Blouins have denied any wrongdoing.
Investigative reporter Kathy Curran first exposed this case after one of the house’s survivors, John Williams, sought help. Williams and his brother, Nathan, were two of dozens of foster children who passed through the Blouin home.
The foster children were physically and sexually abused, according to the lawsuit, police reports and DCF records. The lawsuit alleges that police reports and DCF records show that the children reported being kept in dog crates, whipped with dog belts and leashes, forced to drink their own urine, and tortured. There was even a claim of bestiality and an accusation that a severely disabled boy who could not speak died of encephalitis after being home with a high fever for days.
The lawsuit alleged that DCF and social workers ignored multiple reports of the abuse of the children, failed to protect them, and continued to place the children in the Blouins’ home.
John Williams told NBC10 Boston on Friday that “it’s appalling to me beyond belief” that children like him and his brother were placed in the Blouins’ home after reports of abuse were corroborated by the Department of Children and Families. : “Our sisterhood was taken away our sense of self was taken away, our sense of identity was taken away, love was taken away from us, a bed was taken away from us, a good night’s sleep was taken away from us. The outdoors was taken away from us. A mother was taken away from us. They took away a father. They took away my need and my desire to love. They took away the privilege of being a child.”
Nathan Williams said in a statement that the settlement will help give the siblings a sense of security after “daily sadistic torturous punishments, sexual and psychological abuse and neglect… due to the indifference of 17 individual children and families social workers.” “. .”
The Blouins also face criminal charges for sexually assaulting two of the boys, who are part of Friday’s deal. Both pleaded not guilty.
Ray Blouin is already a registered sex offender, convicted of abusing two girls in the home.
The lawsuit that DCF settled also cited that Phil Paquette, who also lived in the home, is accused of raping another child. He has denied the charge.
Susan Blouin was a registered nurse who worked at Umass Memorial Medical Center and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, but she is no longer employed and her license was suspended by the state as a result of this case.
Criminal cases and the civil part of the case against Susan and Ray Blouin and Phil Paquette are ongoing.
