Washington state has agreed to pay $8.5 million to two sisters who were repeatedly raped by their foster parent. Attorneys argued the state ignored a previous child abuse claim that could have prevented the girls from ever being placed in the unsafe home.
The sisters were 10 and 15 years old at the time of the abuse. The 15-year-old girl was severely developmentally delayed, according to her attorneys. The man, John Phillips, confessed to raping them and his 9-year-old adopted daughter. He is currently in prison, convicted of multiple counts of child rape.
The sisters lived with Phillips for 14 months between 2013 and 2014 while Phillips frequently raped them, according to their attorney and Phillips' own admissions.
"If you close your eyes and think about the worst things that could happen to a child sexually, they happened to these girls," said their attorney, Michael Pfau.
