Lawsuit: Brothers were sexually abused

Abuse is alleged to have happened while the youths were in foster care

A lawsuit has been filed against the state Children, Youth and Families Department on behalf of two brothers who say they were sexually abused in their Bernalillo County foster home last year.

The suit, filed in state District Court last month, lists CYFD and two of the department’s employees, as well as the two foster parents, as defendants. The suit doesn’t give the ages of the children.

The foster father accused of sexual assault was investigated for the allegations, the lawsuit says, but has not been charged.

“As a direct and proximate result of the conduct, negligence, and breaches of duty by CYFD and its employees … (the children) suffered sexual abuse, severe emotional distress and mental anguish, and numerous other serious injuries and damages,” the suit says.

According to the suit, the brothers were placed in the foster home in late May or early June last year. It alleges the foster father started touching the older child in a sexual way and started making sexual remarks about him.

The boys got into a fight after three or four weeks of living in the house, causing the older boy to be moved to a different home.

The younger boy stayed at the home for the next three months and was sexually abused “on a regular basis,” the suit says.

The younger brother was removed from the home in August after causing damage to the home’s front yard and running away. The boy reported the sexual abuse to CYFD, the suit says.

The older brother was put back into the home around the same time. He was removed again in late September or early October when CYFD started investigating the foster father and later revoked his foster license, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also says the foster father has a criminal history and shouldn’t have been a foster parent in the first place.

CYFD spokeswoman Melody Wells said the department can’t comment on pending litigation.

The suit was filed by attorneys Brad Hall and Levi Monagle, who have filed similar child sex abuse lawsuits against Catholic clergymen. Neither could be reached for comment April 27.

The children are seeking punitive damages.