By Cheryl Wetzstein
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
October 4, 2005
Four adopted boys who officials say were found starving in New Jersey two
years ago will receive almost $13 million from the state under a settlement
filed yesterday.
The awards -- $5 million to an
older brother and $2.5 million to each of the three younger boys -- will be one
of the largest damage awards paid by New Jersey, said Marcia Robinson Lowry, the
boys' guardian ad litem and executive director of Children's Rights.
"No amount of money can undo the damage done to
these children or diminish the fact that the state blatantly shirked its
responsibility to ensure their safety and well-being," Ms. Lowry said.
The settlement, which was filed yesterday in U.S.
District Court in New Jersey, is based on an offer made by the state earlier
this year, said Andy Williams, spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Human
Services (DHS). DHS Commissioner James M. Davy is a signatory of the documents.
The shocking story of Bruce Jackson and his younger
brothers, identified as K.J., T.J. and M.J., emerged in October 2003, when a
neighbor called police after seeing Bruce Jackson, then age 19, looking through
garbage cans in the middle of the night.
None of the
boys weighed more than 45 pounds, authorities found. The boys' adoptive parents,
Raymond and Vanessa Jackson of Collingswood, N.J., said they cared for the
children properly and blamed their low weights on severe eating disorders.
Supporters of the couple created a Web site for them
at www.savethejacksons.org, which shows the boys in nice clothes, energetic and
smiling at home and at church.
But when the boys
were placed in other homes, they all immediately gained weight and height.
Within two months, Bruce Jackson went from 45 pounds to 75 pounds and grew 3
inches taller, the Camden County prosecutor's office said.
The parents were charged with more than 20 counts of
aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. The case is still
before the criminal courts, a spokesman in the Camden County prosecutor's office
said yesterday.
Mr. Jackson died after suffering a
stroke last year. A judge has given Mrs. Jackson until Friday to decide whether
to accept a plea bargain or go to trial to face the charges against her, the
Associated Press reported.
The Jackson case was the
subject of a congressional hearing and spurred demand for reforms of New
Jersey's child-welfare agency. Child-welfare workers had visited the Jackson
home regularly because they were foster parents, but the workers did not take
action concerning the emaciated boys. Several child-welfare workers subsequently
were suspended or fired.
In addition to the $12.5
million, the state also has agreed to provide the boys with medical insurance
until they reach age 21 and pay as much as $485,000 for supplemental educational
services, Ms. Lowry's group said.
Mr. Williams of
the DHS said attorney's fees still are under negotiation.