Jury Denies Damages To Adoptive Parents

The state was negligent in not telling a Tacoma couple about all the disabilities suffered by their adoptive daughter, but doesn’t owe the couple any damages, a Pierce County jury found.

Tollison and Victoria McKinney adopted Abby after caring for her for five years as a foster child. They sued the state, arguing the state never told them about the extent of the girl’s physical and mental problems stemming from fetal-alcohol syndrome.

But the state’s lawyers said the McKinneys knew as much as anyone about the child’s condition.

To award damages, the jury would have had to find that the state’s negligence caused injury.

The girl, now 13, will need lifelong medical and psychological care.