Lawsuit: Kiwanis Vocational Home and Washington Department of Social and Health Services UPDATED Now Bittersweet Justice

“In 2015, a handful of lawsuits claiming abuse and negligence at Centralia’s now-closed Kiwanis Vocational Home began trickling into Thurston County Superior Court, mostly unnoticed by the public at large.

Three years later, dozens of men have added their names to the growing list of former residents of the state-licensed group foster home for boys who are seeking justice in the form of monetary awards from the state of Washington and Kiwanis International.

There’s upwards of 40 claimants at this point. More are just coming forward every day,” said attorney Darrell Cochran, who represents many of the plaintiffs.

So far, the state of Washington has settled with seven plaintiffs — three men split a $1.5 million settlement in December, and another four were granted a total of $750,000 in separate settlements this month.

In each of those cases, Kiwanis defendants have not settled, and parties are preparing for trial.

The Chronicle began covering the allegations and lawsuits in a series of investigative reports last year.

“Just an endless stream of cases are getting filed because people are coming forward … basically after having read your story … saying ‘Oh my gosh I experienced that and worse,’ ” Cochran told The Chronicle.

Most of the new cases are being filed in Pierce County Superior Court, Cochran said, because several Thurston County judges have recused themselves for various reasons, he said.

The Kiwanis Vocational Home just north of Centralia on Sawall Avenue was open from 1979 to 1994, by which time it had been renamed the Coffee Creek Center and placed under new management.

The home was founded and operated for much of its existence by the Lewis County Youth Enterprises board and supported by Kiwanis through the right to name the facility after the organization and through Kiwanis members working at the facility and serving on its board.

The home was intended to be a place for 11- to 17-year-old boys who were wards of the state — removed from their families by the state because their parents were unfit to care for them — who struggled to adjust to a typical foster home.

Some of the boys had criminal or behavioral issues, but the home was not a juvenile detention facility and boys were not sentenced to spend time there as punishment by the court system.

KVH grew to include more than 70 residents at its peak.

Complaints of violence at the facility started as early as 1981, with accusations of sexual abuse following shortly after.

Former residents claim violent hazing, sexual abuse by older boys on younger boys, sexual abuse by staff, assaults by staff, and generally poor conditions at the facility.

The lawsuits name the state, specifically the Department of Social and Health Services, and Kiwanis, claiming that both organizations should have done more to protect the boys who lived at the facility.

The suits argue that DSHS and Kiwanis knew of allegations of abuse and mismanagement and did not properly respond. Both agencies conducted investigations and audits of the home but continued to support its operation.

The Chronicle identified dozens of reports of assaults and abuse documented by Kiwanis and DSHS but never forwarded to local law enforcement.

Kiwanis International attempted to distance itself from the home in court proceedings last year. Attorneys for the group argued local and regional clubs had no actual involvement in the home or knowledge of allegations of misconduct.

However, Thurston County Judge James Dixon ruled against that argument in December 2017, citing communications filed in court documents on Kiwanis letterhead voicing concerns about day-to-day management of the home and referencing specific allegations of misconduct.

The allegations against KVH are similar to those at another Kiwanis-sponsored facility — the Olympia Kiwanis Boys Ranch — which also closed in 1994.

The OKBR received extensive coverage from the regional media after its collapse. A December 1995 Seattle Times story called the ranch a “house of horrors” and blamed DSHS for allowing it to stay open as long as it had.”

Dozens of Former Residents of Defunct Centralia Boys Home Join Suits Against State, Kiwanis

[The Daily Chronicle 8/28/18 by Natalie Johnson]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:“Seven former residents of Centralia’s shuttered Kiwanis Vocational Home will benefit from a $6 million settlement with service club Kiwanis International, whose local boys home was frought with dozens of reports of physical and sexual abuse.

The settlement was reached late Friday, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer, and is the first payout by Kiwanis International over the allegations, which reach back decades.

So far, more than 60 individuals have come forward, many with stories of violence and rape they endured in their adolescence at the boys home.

From 1979 to 1994, Kiwanis Vocational Home housed boys 10 to 17 years old who were separated from their families, becoming wards of the state. The Chronicle began reporting on allegations of abuse in 2017. Back then, attorney Darrell Cochran, representing several former residents, called the facility “a pedophile farm.”

“The scarring and spiritual death that accompanies child sexual abuse can never be fully compensated, but the plaintiffs in this particular group felt like they had finally been heard,” Cochran told The Chronicle this week. “And the opportunity to get to trial was in itself vindication. To have lawyers that were aggressively telling their story was a salve.”

The home was intended to offer a therapeutic place for its young residents, many of whom had troubled childhoods. But while dozens of reports of abuse were lodged, and as audits found inadequate bathing facilities, outdated personnel files, and employees failing to meet state-mandated qualifications, the home continued to receive state funding. During some of that time, the home expanded capacity, eventually housing more than 70 boys.

Kiwanis International declined to comment on the settlement, saying the organization does not comment on pending litigation.

According to Cochran’s Tacoma law firm, the $6 million, court-enforceable settlement contract is in hand, and the ultimate dismissal will occur after the transaction.

The Kiwanis organization — which now has 550,000 members and spans dozens of countries — argued in 2017 that local and regional Kiwanis clubs had no knowledge of misconduct allegations at Centralia’s Kiwanis Vocational Home. A Thurston County judge ruled against that claim, pointing to communications on Kiwanis letterhead citing specific misconduct allegations.

Former Centralia Mayor Lee Coumbs, who worked at the Kiwanis Vocational Home for five years, also cast doubt on the allegations back then, as did Henry Meister, a board member of the home in the ’80s.

“I think it’s disappointing that Kiwanis International has denied for years that they made terrible mistakes in operating Kiwanis Vocational Home,” Cochran said. “This settlement at least shows some flicker of recognition that what it did contributed to a horrific situation for the boys who were there.”

Washington state’s Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) has already settled multiple cases with claimants regarding the Kiwanis Vocational Home, including a $1.5 million payout to four former residents in 2017. The Chronicle reported that 40 incidences of sexual or physical abuse were reported to DSHS in the last eight years the Kiwanis Vocational Home was open, none with corresponding police reports. The agency said its settlement included “no admission of liability on the part of the state.” Other lawsuits over similar allegations have amassed more than $22 million in settlements, The Chronicle reported in 2019.

Cochran expects more former residents to come forward in the future. Some of those men, he said, are “from disadvantaged backgrounds and won’t necessarily be following the news,” and may come forward once they learn others have already done so.

Charles McCarthy, the home’s former director who, according to previous reporting, was found by DSHS to have physically abused boys and misappropriated funds, passed away last year. According to Cochran, McCarthy had already given video-taped testimony that will be used in future trials.

“I think if I was the Kiwanis, I’d certainly be afraid of taking a case all the way through a trial jury,” he said, adding that a group of potential jurors in the recently settled case seemed “troubled” by evidence shown to them.

As for the seven plaintiffs involved in the settlement, some are currently incarcerated, meaning the money will give them an opportunity at a “clean slate” upon their release, Cochran said.”

Kiwanis to Pay $6 Million to Former Centralia Boys Home Residents
[The Chronicle 5/5/21 by Claudia Yaw]

Update 2:“Insurance companies have settled another sexual abuse lawsuit brought against Kiwanis International, this time for $9 million in a case involving seven men who were sexually abused at a Centralia, Washington, group home for boys decades ago.”