SEATTLE – Horrific abuse that left a 6-year-old girl brain damaged and partially blind happened because state social workers ignored warnings that the girl’s parents were dangerous, a lawyer said Wednesday.
The claims are part of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed in Yakima County Superior Court against the state Department of Social and Health Services.
Bellingham attorney Tim Farris filed the lawsuit on behalf of 6-year-old Sandra Soto, who was beaten so severely two years ago that she lapsed into a coma. Doctors described her abuse as “torture.”
State officials are at fault because social workers failed to investigate evidence of abuse and ignored obvious safety risks posed by Sandra’s parents, a pair of known drug addicts who have since been convicted of child abuse, the lawsuit said.
Farris said the girl, no longer in a coma, is in foster care.
“The department says that child safety is the paramount mission of the agency,” Farris said Wednesday. “It’s very troubling when you see these things happening.”
The lawsuit also said state officials should not have removed Sandra from the foster family who had cared for her from birth until she was 21/2 years old. A notice previously filed with state officials said the lawsuit could result in damages of $4 million.
State Attorney General Rob McKenna’s office was reviewing the case and had no immediate comment Wednesday, spokeswoman Janelle Guthrie said.
Sandra’s mother, Angela Soto, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for child abuse. The lawsuit said Sandra’s father, Angel Soto, also was convicted of child abuse and was deported as an illegal immigrant.
Aside from documented risks of placing Sandra back in her parents’ care, the lawsuit claims there were numerous reports of abuse that began as soon as Sandra began making unsupervised visits to their home.
In March 2005, the lawsuit said, Yakima police got an emergency call from Angela Soto saying she had been hitting Sandra, who was unconscious.
Police reports from the Soto home indicated the girl had been tied to a bed with electric wire and forced to use a bucket in a corner as a toilet.
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