Washington to pay $4M settlement in foster abuse case

YAKIMA — The state of Washington has agreed to a $4 million settlement for two former foster children who were abused and sexually assaulted.

The record-breaking settlement comes out of a sex abuse lawsuit for the two sisters, who were four and two when they were sexually assaulted, KOMO-TV reported.

They were placed in a foster home without any safety monitoring for years, according to a lawsuit. They were sexually abused in the home from 2006 to 2015. Foster father Jose Cortez eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree child molestation.

The two sisters testified, saying their foster mother would hit, starve and force them to take cold showers while Cortez sexually molested and raped them.

“We do not expect social workers to know everything that is happening in a foster home, but these social workers failed to follow the minimum supervision guidelines during health and safety visits and left my clients in the care of monsters for nearly a decade,” attorney Megan Hale said.

“No amount of money can make up for what my clients lost, but my hope is that this settlement will make their lives easier and give them choices they would not have had otherwise.”