The father of a toddler who was killed by the child’s mother is suing the N.H. Division of Children, Youth and Families for negligence.
In a suit filed on Monday in Superior Court, Christopher Willott alleges the state failed protect his daughter from “foreseeable risks of harm.” Twenty-one-month-old Sadee Willott was killed in September, 2015, after sustaining injuries in the bathtub. The child’s mother Kaitlin Paquette is serving a 21-42 year prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2017.
In the27-page legal filing, Willott’s attorney Russ Rilee lays out a timeline of reports and closed assessments social workers completed on Kaitlin Paquette. It details multiple allegations of abuse, but according to the complaint, a failure on DCYF’s part to take necessary steps protect the child from abuse.
The lawsuit, which seeks monetary damages, also alleges that DCYF failed to properly train and supervise its employees. The agency has come under scrutiny in recent years following a string of high profile abuse cases.
Earlier this year, Rilee and DCYF settled a $6.75 million lawsuit in a different child abuse case.
READ the lawsuit below:
