Lawsuit: New York City UPDATED now Bittersweet Justice

New documents have been filed in a lawsuit on behalf of ten of eleven former foster children of Judith Leekin against New York City. All children have special needs. The eleventh child, a ten-year-old boy nicknamed Moo, had Down Syndrome and is presumed dead. The lawsuit “also charges negligence by three private organizations that had city contracts to handle some of the adoptions.” Judith was sentenced to twenty years in prison in 2009 and is currently in a Florida prison. She is concurrently serving an eleven-year sentence for fraud. A New York federal court handed down the fraud sentence. She had immigrated from Trinidad.

“Ms. Leekin was arrested in 2007; the authorities determined she had adopted 11 disabled New York foster children using aliases, then moved to Florida, where she subjected them to years of abuse — all the while collecting $1.68 million in subsidies from New York City until 2007.”

New revelations include the following:

• In 1980, she was investigated for scalding a boy in her care but that did not preclude her from adopting eleven special needs kids over an eight-year period.
• She used four aliases but the same address to adopt the children.The aliases were never cross-checked.
• She claims in her deposition that the aliases were used to hide the 1980 investigation.
• She was never asked for her “passport, birth certificate or any other form of identification.”
• She offered “conflicting or false responses when asked about her employment history, income, education, assets and religion. “

“Ms. Leekin’s beating of and starving the children, her caging them and restraining them with plastic ties and handcuffs, has been detailed in earlier filings and press accounts. But Dr. Hess’s report, which also cites children’s depositions, offers perhaps the most in-depth look at the horrors inside the Leekin homes in New York and Florida.

Before he was taken in by Ms. Leekin, one child had been learning his letters and colors and how to count to 10; he spoke happily of his friends, teachers and toys, Dr. Hess wrote.

But on his first night with Ms. Leekin in July 1994, she hit his hand with a stick because he picked up a meatball with his fingers, Dr. Hess said. From that day forward, he was beaten with sticks and hangers, and forced to stand for hours at a time with clothes over his head to cover his eyes. He was also removed from school in the second grade

He has since been found to have post-traumatic stress disorder; and today, at 21, he remains fragile, one lawyer, Theodore Babbitt, wrote to the court: “He wakes up thinking about Judith Leekin and he goes to bed thinking about her.

Other children adopted by Ms. Leekin also remain in precarious states, Mr. Babbitt wrote. He said one 24-year-old is homeless; a 19-year-old was arrested for domestic violence; a 24-year-old is on round-the-clock suicide watch.

The reports also offer additional details on how Ms. Leekin submitted forged documents to New York to continue receiving subsidies for the children, who had physical or developmental disabilities, including autism and retardation.”

“Ms. Leekin attached to one 2004 submission a fabricated report card showing Moo was in the ninth grade at a Florida high school, where he was receiving B’s and C’s.

But Moo was not attending high school, Dr. Hess noted. The authorities have said he disappeared around 1999, when he was about 11. Some of the children reported last seeing him very sick: coughing, suffering from diarrhea and crying. One child recalled that Ms. Leekin wrapped Moo in a blanket and said she was taking him to the doctor. Others recalled he was taken to the hospital. One remembered Moo placed in a “big purple plastic box.” None ever saw him again.

The authorities have investigated his disappearance, but have never charged anyone.”

New Look at City Lapses in Adoption Abuse Case
[New York Times 8/25/11 by Benjamin Weiser]

Pound Pup Legacy files on this case can be found here.

Update:More information:

• The siblings ages range from 19 to 28.
•  “The 66-year-old woman is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for using several aliases to adopt 11 children, some of whom were developmentally disabled, and keeping them locked in her home in Queens and later Port St. Lucie, Fla., until they were discovered in 2007 by the authorities.”
• “Some of the children were so badly abused mentally and physically that they could not stand up straight or talk.”
• “Leekin received more than $180,000 in subsidies from the city for the adoptions even after she moved out of New York in 1997”
• “The children’s attorneys contend that ACS did not determine her identity and failed to check in on the children when there were clear signs of abuse and imprisonment. One adoption agency failed to look at Leekin’s background by not looking at her employment history, interviewing neighbors, or validating her phony Social Security number.The suit also criticized the agency for outsourcing its adoption and letting the illegal adoptions take place.A state law was enacted in 1999 that mandated prospective parents who were looking to adopt children needed to provide fingerprints and go through an extensive process that included interviews and a home study.ACS representatives declined to comment about the suit, which has not yet reached trial as of press time Tuesday.”

Laurelton foster kin sue city ACS

[Your Nabe 9/15/11by Ivan Pereira]

Update 2: “Lawyers for 10 disabled children who were fraudulently adopted by a Queens woman more than 15 years ago and subjected to years of abuse have proposed a $68 million settlement in a civil rights lawsuit filed on their clients’ behalf, according to a confidential court filing.  ”

“The proposal comes as a federal magistrate judge in Brooklyn appears to be trying to mediate a settlement to the suit, filed in 2009, which seeks damages from New York City and three contract adoption agencies that placed the children with the woman, Judith Leekin.”

“The suit asks that the 10 plaintiffs, now mostly in their 20s, be compensated for their years of suffering as well as for the services and treatment they will need for the rest of their lives.
The settlement proposal was cited in a letter from a defense lawyer in the case to the magistrate judge, Marilyn D. Go of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, where the lawsuit was brought.

The letter was filed publicly in October, but was quickly sealed after the lawyer wrote that it “referred to confidential discussions between the parties.” The New York Times obtained the letter while it was publicly available. ”

“The 10 have since lived in Florida in state programs or on their own, and at least one is homeless, according to court filings.

New York City and the three private agencies have denied liability in the case, claiming that Ms. Leekin was a sophisticated serial criminal whose scheme fooled various professionals and, given the capabilities and practices of the time, would not have been foreseen or detected.

The agencies are HeartShare Human Services of New York, SCO Family of Services and the now-closed St. Joseph Services for Children and Families.

The agencies’ lawyer, Robert S. Delmond, did not respond to messages seeking a comment on Thursday. Lawyers for the city and the plaintiffs declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
In the now-sealed letter to Judge Go, Mr. Delmond described the $68 million demand as “a significant sum, which requires much consideration, thought, planning and involvement of corporate officers before they can reach a decision.” The agencies’ insurance carrier was reviewing the matter, he noted, and was “not prepared to make a settlement offer at this time.”

He requested more time to allow for further consultations with the insurer and meetings to discuss “possible settlement offers.”

It is unclear how the city and the private agencies might apportion any payout if a settlement is reached.

Jonathan S. Abady, a lawyer whose firm, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, has handled suits against the city and private agencies in cases involving abused and neglected children, said “there does appear to be a uniform indemnification provision” in the contracts the city has with such agencies.

“But the city has the ultimate legal responsibility for the child,” said Mr. Abady, whose firm is not involved in the Leekin suit.

In August, Theodore Babbitt, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, asked Judge Go to move the case forward because of the “fragile, unstable and precarious” condition of the plaintiffs. “They are desperate for care that cannot be provided through the Florida state system,” he wrote.

He cited three of the male plaintiffs, who ranged in age from 19 to 24: one had been on a round-the-clock suicide watch after multiple attempts to take his own life. Another had fathered children out of wedlock and was homeless. A third had been arrested for domestic violence against his older brother.

“He is angry and depressed and bottles it up inside until he violently explodes,” Mr. Babbitt wrote.
The court’s docket sheet shows that Judge Go has regularly held confidential phone and court conferences related to settlement issues, sometimes talking with just one side or the other.

Her efforts appear to date from July, when she said in open court that she was usually “programmed to be hopelessly optimistic about settlement.”

“For some reason,” she added, “I have not pushed the parties much in this case to discuss settlement, but let’s do so now.””

$68 Million Settlement Proposed for 10 Children Fraudulently Adopted and Abused
[New York Times 12/30/11 by Benjamin Weiser]

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Update 3: The city settles for $9.7 Million. Other lawsuits against private agencies pending. Private agencies include SCO Family of Services, HeartShare Human Services of New York and St. Joseph Services for Children and Families, which is now closed.

“The settlement resolves only claims against the city, which had placed two of the children with Ms. Leekin through a city-run adoption unit. The other eight children were placed with her through three private adoption agencies that had contracts with the city. A lawsuit against those agencies is still pending.

Prosecutors had charged that Ms. Leekin used aliases when adopting the children and collected $1.68 million in subsidies from New York, which she used to support a lavish lifestyle. The children, who had physical or developmental disabilities, including autism and retardation, were restrained with plastic ties and handcuffs, and beaten with sticks and hangers, court papers show.

“Judith Leekin’s extraordinary criminal scheme was unprecedented,” Bruce M. Strikowsky, a lawyer whose firm represented the city, said Thursday. “Though the city had strong legal defenses, this settlement will benefit those harmed most by Leekin — the children she abused. They have been, and continue to be, the city’s primary concern.”

A spokesman for the Administration for Children’s Services added, “There are much more sophisticated systems in place today that would never allow this kind of fraud to be perpetrated on the city or our children.”

A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Theodore Babbitt, wrote in a letter to the federal judge overseeing the case, Eric N. Vitaliano, that the settling parties “believe that the settlement is fair and reasonable under the circumstances.” The suit was filed in 2009 and was vigorously contested.

Another lawyer for the plaintiffs, Howard M. Talenfeld, said the settlement came at “a crucial time” for the former Leekin children, who are now mostly in their 20s. A few of them, for example, are homeless, he said. Because of the precariousness of the plaintiffs’ situation, Mr. Talenfeld added, trusts or structured settlements will be used, to ensure they “will have resources to protect them in the future.”

The city admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, which is described in more than 500 pages of documents filed in United States District Court in Brooklyn. The amount, which was redacted in the court documents, was provided by an official with the city’s Law Department. The official said $6 million was designated for the two plaintiffs whom the city placed directly with Ms. Leekin, in 1988. The remaining funds are to be distributed to the other eight plaintiffs.

All 10 had sued the city for its role in overseeing the system that allowed them to be placed with Ms. Leekin.

After they were removed from Ms. Leekin’s care in 2007, about half of the plaintiffs, none of whom had completed elementary school, were declared “totally incapacitated” or “vulnerable adults,” according to a report by Peg McCartt Hess, a former Columbia University social work professor who was retained by the plaintiffs to review the cases.

The two children whom the city placed with Ms. Leekin are cited in the report as J. G., a man who is now 28, and L. J., a woman who is now 32. J. G. was described as moderately retarded and legally blind when he was removed from the Leekin home; L. J. was found to be retarded and autistic.”

 

City Settles With Disabled People Fraudulently Adopted in ’90s and Abused

[New York Times 12/7/12 by Benjamin Weiser]

Update 4:”Eight young adults with disabilities who were fraudulently adopted by a Queens woman and subjected to years of abuse have agreed to a $17.5 million settlement of their lawsuit against three private New York foster care agencies that had placed them with the woman, a new court filing shows.

The woman, Judith Leekin, 69, who adopted the children in the 1980s and ’90s, was arrested in 2007 in Florida, where she had moved with them. She was later convicted of fraud and abuse charges and is serving a lengthy prison sentence.

The case has long been seen as a horrific breakdown in the city’s foster care system. The authorities said Ms. Leekin used false names to adopt 11 children — one disappeared while in her care and is presumed dead — and she collected $1.68 million in subsidies from New York that were intended for their care but went to support her own lavish lifestyle.

In December 2012, New York agreed to pay $9.7 million to settle its portion of the 2009 lawsuit, including claims by two of the children; they had been placed with Ms. Leekin through a city-run adoption unit. The city denied liability in the case.

The combined settlements in the case now total just over $27 million, including legal fees and costs. The children, most of whom are now in their 20s, had physical, emotional or developmental disabilities, including autism and blindness. In a January ruling that allowed the lawsuit against the private agencies to proceed, Judge Eric N. Vitaliano, of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, offered what he called “a glimpse of life in Leekin’s house of horrors.”

“The story is undisputedly sad and tragic,” the judge wrote, citing findings by Peg McCartt Hess, a former Columbia University social work professor who had been retained by the plaintiffs to review the cases.

The judge said Ms. Leekin had routinely denied the children access to food and a toilet; handcuffed and restrained them for hours; trapped them in cribs that were held shut with boards and heavy objects; beat them with a belt, a nightstick and other objects; forced them to stand for hours, sometimes with their hands above their heads; failed to protect them from sexual abuse; and repeatedly threatened them with a gun or with being beaten to death.

When they were removed from her care in 2007, only three could read (at a third-grade level), and six were declared either “totally incapacitated” or “vulnerable adults,” the judge noted, citing Dr. Hess’s findings.

The latest settlement, detailed in the court filing on Monday, covers the eight children who were placed with Ms. Leekin by the private agencies. Judge Vitaliano must still approve the deal, which was reached in June with the assistance of a mediator, the filing said.

A vast majority of the net proceeds, said Howard M. Talenfeld, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, will be paid through annuities or trusts “to ensure that these children will have the support and therapeutic services necessary to address the lifetime of challenges they face after surviving their appalling abuse by Judith Leekin.”

The private agencies that were defendants in the suit are HeartShare Human Services of New York, SCO Family of Services and the now-closed St. Joseph Services for Children and Families. The agencies denied liability. HeartShare said it “chooses not to make any comment” about the settlement, while SCO referred a reporter to the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, which oversees the foster care system. The two private agencies still have foster care contracts with the city.

A Children’s Services spokesman declined to comment on Wednesday, but when the city settled in 2012, the agency said, “There are much more sophisticated systems in place today that would never allow this kind of fraud to be perpetrated on the city or our children.””

Eight in Adoption Abuse Case Agree to $17.5 Million Settlement With Foster Agencies[New York Times 8/27/14 by Benjamin Weiser]