WARNING: This story contains information that is graphic in nature and could be disturbing to some viewers.
Warning signs of horrific abuse at the hands of foster parents inside a state licensed foster home were allegedly ignored for years, according to a civil suit filed against the state, social workers and a former foster family.
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This case was filed in 2020 and is set for mediation Friday. It involves allegations of physical, mental and sexual abuse in the foster home of Ray and Sue Blouin, and red flags that were reportedly ignored by social workers and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.
Attorney Sam Perkins, who represents four of the survivors who lived with the Blouins in the 1990s and early 2000s, described just some of the horror he says foster children allegedly suffered inside the state licensed foster home of the Oxford couple decades ago.
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“Children were locked in dog cages, children were forced to take freezing cold baths. They were forced to smear dog feces and their own feces on themselves," Perkins alleged. "It’s just almost unimaginable.”
Susan Blouin was a registered nurse, working at UMass Memorial. The state suspended her license as a result of this case. Ray Blouin was a delivery driver and EMT.
Court records, police reports and records from the Department of Children and Families indicate a trail of abuse and torture that lasted for years.
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According to the lawsuit, the children were whipped with belts and dog leashes, forced to drink their own urine and sexually abused and tortured. There’s even a claim of bestiality and an allegation that a severely disabled child who was non-verbal died from encephalitis after being kept home with a high fever for days.
Perkins told the NBC10 Investigators that there were dozens of reports of suspected abuse but the reports were ignored or not properly investigated.
“DCF repeatedly chose not to find reports of abuse credible in situations where they simply failed to investigate," Perkins claimed. "Even when they found reports were credible and that there was evidence that the children had been abused, returned them to the Blouin home for them to be abused again."
One of the survivors, “William,” was just 7 years old when he and his little brother “George” were placed in the Blouin’s home. The Blouins are facing new charges of sexually assaulting the boys. They’ve both entered not guilty pleas.
Ray Blouin is already a registered sex offender. He’s convicted of abusing two of the young girls in the home.
Philip Paquette, who also lived at the home, is accused of raping William’s little brother. He denies the charge.
According to the lawsuit, DCF admitted to shredding reports of abuse that they determined were unfounded which has broad implications.
“You can’t conceive of first of all this happening that Raymond and Susan Blouin and Philip Paquette behaving this way with children who are put in their care but even more unimaginable is that the state institution that is required to protect these kids just abandons their job,” added Perkins.
NBC10 Investigators reached out to the Blouins, their lawyer and Paquette but did not receive any comment. DCF told us they don’t comment on pending litigation.
