Ex-foster children file $40M lawsuit

OXFORD – Four former foster children who say they were sexually and physically abused inside the Oxford foster home of Susan and Raymond Blouin are suing the couple and the state for millions.

In a 73-page lawsuit that lists damages “in excess of $40 million,” the former children say the Blouin home at 7 Pleasant Court was a “house of horrors” for more than a decade.

The plaintiffs – two men and two women who filed the lawsuit Dec. 20 under pseudonyms – allege being subjected to a variety of torture, from beatings and verbal abuse to sexual humiliation and molestation.

They allege that the state, despite mounting evidence that the Blouin home was unsafe, continued to allow foster children to live there, and made things worse by conducting sloppy investigations of abuse that resulted in further retribution against kids.

“This case is about a Massachusetts Department of Social Services-approved foster care home, the systemic torture of four minor children that occurred there for over a decade, and DSS’ deliberate indifference towards that abuse,” lawyers from the Boston firm Brody, Hardoon, Perkins & Kesten wrote.

DSS, now the Department of Children and Families, declined to comment Thursday, saying it does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit names 14 DSS employees as defendants, arguing that records the plaintiffs obtained from DCF after multiple requests show the employees were aware of serious concerns of abuse but failed to protect the children.

The suit also names Philip A. Paquette, Susan Blouin’s former boyfriend, and Jennifer Blouin, Susan and Raymond Blouin's biological daughter.

It accuses Paquette, who was recently arraigned on related child rape charges, of rape and physical abuse, and accuses Jennifer Blouin of sexually abusing the girls and forcing them to have sex with the family dog.

The bestiality allegation is one of many sadistic acts the four plaintiffs describe in the lawsuit, which runs 428 paragraphs and lodges 25 legal civil counts.

Among the allegations are 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 plaintiffs allege the Blouins filtered about 40 foster children through their home before the state barred them from fostering. They allege the Blouins had a financial incentive to adopt kids, saying they received about $9,000 annually for each of at least two of the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit alleges the Blouins forced the children to live in inhumane conditions, including making some sleep on plywood or in dog cages and feeding at least one dog food for breakfast.

It alleges that on Christmas, the Blouins would put presents DSS brought the children under the tree, only to remove and sell the gifts once the social workers left.

Susan Blouin, who allegedly worked as a neonatal intensive care unit nurse at UMass Memorial Hospital around the time of the abuse, is accused of throwing both the 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 have 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.

The lawsuit was filed in Middlesex Superior Court in Lowell, where a judge approved a motion to place an attachment on the Blouin house at 7 Pleasant Court.

In ordering the attachment, Judge C. William Barrett agreed there was a “reasonable likelihood” that the plaintiffs would recover judgment in an amount greater than the value of the home.

Raymond Blouin, his wife and Paquette have been criminally charged this year following reporting on the case by WCVB-TV.

Raymond and Susan Blouin are facing one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14, while Paquette faces two counts of child rape.

The lawsuit alleges that Jennifer Blouin was charged in juvenile court in 2004 with five counts of child rape, but that the case was “ultimately dismissed.”

It alleges that Jennifer Blouin now lives in New Hampshire, where she allegedly conducts “day care” during the summers.

The lawsuit accuses DCF and its employees of a number of civil counts related to their alleged failure to properly protect the children.

The suit goes into detail about red flags it says are contained in partially redacted records it alleges DCF withheld for years.

The plaintiff's lawyers say the agency didn't produce any records until they complained to DCF Commissioner Linda Spears, and then turned over more information after WCVB-TV reporter Kathy Curran pressed the issue with Gov. Charlie Baker.

They alleged that some of the most “damning” information in the records wasn't turned over until after WCVB’s reporting, saying they found it “deeply troubling” that the information “had been redacted or withheld from DCF’s original production.”

They said the records show that, between December 2002 and October 2004, DSS 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 alleges, while many more were physically and emotionally abused. The plaintiffs argue 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.

According to the suit, one social worker filed a “Case Overload Notice” in 2002 in which she stated she could no longer ensure adequate services to the Blouin foster children.

“Upon information and belief, the overload was never corrected while (this worker) was assigned to the Blouins’ case,” the lawsuit charges.

A message left at a telephone number listed for Susan and Raymond Blouin was not immediately returned Thursday afternoon, while lawyers representing them in their criminal cases declined to comment.

Efforts to contact Jennifer Blouin by Facebook Thursday afternoon were not successful.

Contact Brad Petrishen at brad.petrishen@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BPetrishenTG.