Suit filed in child’s drowning

A recent lawsuit accuses the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare of failing to protect 6-year-old Elizabeth “Lizzy” Goodwin.

Lizzy, who was autistic, drowned in a bathtub at the home of her foster parents, Denise and James Whittle, in 2002. The suit was filed by Coeur d’Alene attorney Norm Gissel on behalf of the girl’s estate.

The Whittles, Child Protective Services and two agency employees are also named in the suit, which seeks an undetermined amount for damages. The suit also asks for an order forcing the state to review policies and practices that “permitted the abuse and death” of Lizzy.

The Whittles were each convicted of felony injury to a child for abusing the girl – Denise Whittle in connection with the drowning and a scalding the child suffered earlier, and James Whittle for a broken leg the girl received during a “potty-training session.”

Lizzy – and later two of her siblings – came into the Whittles’ care through a private custody agreement with their mother, Emily Goodwin, in fall 2000. The civil suit said that Goodwin agreed to grant the Whittles temporary custody because of “personal issues” she was having at the time.

Before a month had passed, the lawsuit says, Lizzy’s school began to report suspected abuse. Still, the suit says, Health and Welfare granted guardianship of Lizzy to the Whittles by November.

According to previous court testimony, workers on contract as care providers for Lizzy had reported that they suspected she was being abused in the months before her death. Those workers said Lizzy’s leg was broken by James Whittle as he tried to potty-train the girl, and that she was badly scalded by Denise Whittle.

There were allegations that the girl was also force-fed, abused verbally and that hot sauce was applied on her anus to force bowel movements.

Those allegations are reiterated in the civil lawsuit.