Chinese-born Woman Sues Adoptive Parents For Torture And Treating Her As A Slave

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A Chinese-born woman is suing her adoptive parents and New Hampshire government agencies after accusing them of using her as a slave and forcing her to live in their basement for years.

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Olivia Atkocaitus, 19, filed the lawsuit last week in a New Boston court, with her parents, Thomas and Denise Atkocaitis, named as defendants. The couple was accused of keeping their adopted daughter in a “dungeon” where she was subjected to physical abuse and starvation. Furthermore, the couple allegedly forced her to work. According to The Daily Mail, the 70-page lawsuit also named the New Boston police, a Massachusetts adoption agency, and the local school district.

The young woman claimed that after the couple’s biological children reported the abuse, one of the agencies ignored her situation. In 2011, they told a school counselor that their parents had whipped them, starved them, and pushed Olivia down the stairs. She claimed to be the only child not permitted to attend school. During her stay at the couple’s house, she was put in an 8-by-8-foot room and forced to use the bathroom in a bucket.

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Although authorities removed the couple’s teenage child from home, Olivia remained, and the lawsuit claims authorities ignored her cry for help.

‘It did not offer the same protections to Olivia, a younger child, a girl, a racial and ethnic minority, even after Thomas and Denise Atkocaitis admitted to police that they had locked her in a basement dungeon,’

Olivia was only allowed ‘out’ when she had to complete chores for the family, which included caring for the animals on the property. She attempted to escape the home on several occasions. The lawsuit was filed by Michael Lewis on behalf of the young woman and accused the couple, along with several other parties, of violating her 13th Amendment rights.

‘In my view, the state permitted slavery to exist in its jurisdiction, and the state did nothing about this’

In 2018, the couple pleaded guilty to felony criminal restraint and misdemeanor child endangerment to avoid jail sentences. A year later, the couple sold their home and moved separately; Denise moved to Georgia, while Thomas moved to Maine.

Her lawsuit is not the only one filed against the Division of Children, Youth, and Families.

 

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