West Virginia Agrees to $4.4 Million Settlement in Sissonville Child Abuse Case
Each child will receive about $900,000 after a judge approved the settlement in a closed hearing, officials said.
- On Tuesday, Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers approved a $4.4 million settlement for five children abused in Sissonville, concluding a lawsuit against the West Virginia Department of Human Services.
- Kanawha County Sheriff deputies discovered the children locked in a shed on October 2, 2023, after neighbors reported concerns about the home of adoptive parents Jeanne Kay Whitefeather and Donald Ray Lantz.
- Whitefeather and Lantz are serving 215-year and 160-year prison sentences after a jury convicted them on 31 of 35 criminal charges in January 2025 for forcing the children into slave-like labor.
- Each child will receive around $900,000 from the settlement to support recovery from trauma, according to Attorney Dante DiTrapano, who represented the victims.
- State officials are evaluating policies to address systemic failures while lawmakers plan to push anti-abuse legislation, as the settlement exposes severe lapses in state child welfare oversight.
11 Articles
11 Articles
West Virginia agrees to $4.4 million settlement in Sissonville child abuse case
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Five children who were abused after being adopted by a Sissonville couple will receive $4.4 million through a settlement with the West Virginia Department of Human Services over failures involving Child Protective Services.
WV pays $4.4M in Sissonville shed case; CPS didn’t save kids from slavelike conditions
Child victims in a gruesome abuse case have been awarded $4.4 million in a settlement with the West Virginia Department of Human Services due to Child Protective Services failures in the case. A white couple living in Sissonville, Kanawha County, had kept their adopted Black children in deplorable conditions, treating them as slaves. Some of the children were forced to live in a shed without running water or a bathroom. Neighbors notified CPS ab…
The Herald-Dispatch
The Coal Valley NewsWV pays $4.4M in historic child abuse case after CPS didn’t rescue kids from slavelike conditions
Child victims in a gruesome abuse case have been awarded $4.4 million in a settlement with the state Department of Human Services due to Child Protective Services failures in the case.
WV pays $4.4M in historic child abuse case after CPS didn’t rescue kids from slave-like conditions • West Virginia Watch
Child victims in a gruesome abuse case have been awarded $4.4 million in a settlement with the state Department of Human Services due to Child Protective Services failures in the case. A white couple living in Sissonville, West Virginia, had kept their adopted Black children in deplorable conditions, treating them as slaves. Some of the […]
Settlement reached with DoHS over Whitefeather, Lantz child abuse case
SISSONVILLE, W.Va. (WOWK) — On Tuesday, Judge Maryclaire Akers approved a $4.4 million settlement with the State of West Virginia for the five children who were abused by their former parents in Sissonville. Jeanne Whitefeather and Donald Lantz were sentenced to over 350 years combined last year for their role in the abuse. The claims [...]
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