Oxford 'House of Horrors' survivors reach $7 million settlement with Mass. child welfare agency

Four former foster children authorities say were brutally physically and sexually abused in an Oxford foster home dubbed the “House of Horrors” have reached a $7 million settlement with the state's child welfare agency, their lawyers announced Friday.

“No amount of money can compensate our clients for what they have suffered, but by reaching this settlement the state is acknowledging its culpability in allowing foster children to be tortured for years in the Blouin home,” their lawyer, Erica L. Brody, said in a news release.

Raymond and Susan Blouin, an Oxford husband and wife, are charged in Worcester County in connection with the case, as is another man, Philip Paquette.

The four children, one of whom has since died, alleged that they were locked in dog crates, forced to perform sex acts, submerged in ice baths nearly to the point of drowning and threatened with death if they told anyone.

Their 2019 lawsuit, filed in Middlesex Superior Court against the Department of Children and Families and 17 of its employees, alleged the state violated the foster kids’ constitutional rights by “ignoring repeated reports of abuse and exposing the children to ongoing sexual, physical and emotional torture” in the Blouin home at 7 Pleasant Court.

“This was a complete failure of the foster care system,” said Brody, adding that the case is “precedent-setting” in Massachusetts and across the country.

“Until now, it has been nearly impossible to hold state employees liable for ignoring the safety of foster children. “(Now), state social workers who turn a blind eye to the suffering of foster children will be held liable for violating the (Constitution).”

Brody, of the Boston firm Brody Hardoon Perkins & Kesten, credited Attorney General Andrea Campbell for “listening to our clients and acknowledging their pain.

“Our clients remain committed to advocating for reforms at DCF to make it a safer agency for all children.”

A spokesperson for Campbell declined to say Wednesday whether her office agreed with Brody's characterization of the settlement as precedent-setting.

“In the face of horrific and appalling abuse at the hands of the Blouins, the plaintiffs have exercised immense bravery and resilience in sharing their stories. We hope they will find some measure of closure through this settlement," the spokesperson, Molly McGlynn, wrote.

In a statement Friday afternoon, DCF Director of Public Affairs Andrea Grossman wrote: “There is no amount that can remedy the trauma endured by the now adults who lived in the Blouin home nearly 20 years ago.

"The Department of Children and Families hopes the resolution of this case is a source of strength and comfort to all involved."

The 2019 lawsuit alleged the Blouins filtered about 40 foster children through their home before the state barred them from fostering in 2004.

At least 11 abuse complaints received

It said that records DCF was slow to turn over showed that, between December 2002 and October 2004, the agency received at least 11 abuse complaints about the Blouin home and, despite sustaining nine of them, did not remove the last child until October 2004.

One child with disabilities died while in the home, the lawsuit alleged, while many more were physically and emotionally abused.

The plaintiffs argued they never should have been placed there, alleging that a child had been removed as early as 1994 after school officials noticed bruises on the child's body.

The suit detailed sadistic allegations of physical and sexual assault, including bestiality.

Among the allegations were that children were routinely bound with duct tape, locked naked in dog cages and forced to wear diapers as late as age 13. Paquette is accused of oral rape, forcing boys to drink their own urine, forcing a boy to eat feces and feeding a boy a sandwich on which he had placed a bodily fluid.

The lawsuit accused Susan Blouin, who allegedly worked as a neonatal intensive care unit nurse at UMass Memorial Hospital around the time of the abuse, of throwing two girls down a flight of stairs and kicking the children in the chest.

The plaintiffs said they were frequently deprived of food and locked in their bedrooms, forcing them to defecate on the floor. Susan Blouin and Paquette allegedly referred to some of the children using racial slurs.

Some of the sexual abuse allegations in the lawsuit had already been supported in court, as Raymond Blouin pleaded guilty in 2003 to indecent assault and battery against the two female plaintiffs.

One of the girls alleged in the lawsuit that Raymond Blouin molested her in the shower at age 15, while the other alleged that he forced her to masturbate him “weekly” from age 5 or 6 to age 12.

Raymond and Susan Blouin are each facing one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14 in Dudley District Court and Worcester District Court, respectively, while Paquette faces two counts of child rape in Worcester Superior Court.

All three cases are still pending as of Friday, court records show.

Several plaintiffs in the lawsuit offered statements in their lawyer’s press release Friday in which they praised Brody and Campbell and called for change at the DCF.

“Attorney General was also a foster child herself, and is aware of the need for changes,” plaintiff Nathan Williams said. “She supported me and my siblings to not only speak about what we went through but she encouraged us to try to turn the negative start to our lives into a positive outcome and to advocate for greater change.”

Committed to changing DCF

Plaintiff John Williams said he’s committed to changing the DCF, which he said robbed him of his childhood.

“DCF took me out of my home and was supposed to put me in a nurturing one.

“Instead, DCF put me and my precious little brother into a home that had a well-known history of abusing children.

“(The Department of Children and Families) is an agency desperately in need of reform. It is a horrible weight to carry around with you to know that what happened to us was 100% preventable.”

Cheryl Gaulin, who cared for plaintiff Kristine Blouin after she was removed from the home, demanded agency reform.

Kristine Blouin died of a drug overdose in October 2022, while the case was pending.

“During the course of this case, I learned that DCF knew that the foster parents were abusing kids in horrible ways, but didn’t do anything about it,” Gaulin said. “If DCF had taken action sooner, maybe my daughter would still be alive.”

Gaulin added that while the settlement won’t bring her daughter back, she hopes it will lead to reforms that will prevent future children from being abused.

“Our clients have suffered unimaginably, first as survivors of torture and then because they weren’t believed,” said Brody, who noted that, in addition to Kristine Blouin's death, one of the plaintiffs is incarcerated.

“All of them have struggled to address their trauma, but despite their personal histories they are all incredibly courageous.

“We hope that this case shows other mistreated foster children that if they come forward, their voices will be heard, and people will be held accountable.”

In its email Monday, DCF said it is committed to updating its policies, and pointed to recent reforms it said would strengthen child safety in foster care by increasing support for foster parents.

The agency said a new policy restructures the roles of social workers "so that each (foster) family has one dedicated support worker at their Area Office," and that it checks court, sex offender and agency records for foster and preadoptive parents annually.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Oxford House of Horrors settlement: Mass. agency to pay $7 million