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Five Black children who endured severe abuse at the hands of their white adoptive parents have received a historic $4.4 million settlement from the state of West Virginia. The compensation addresses the state’s Child Protective Services (CPS) failure to act on numerous reports about the children’s mistreatment.
The victims-formerly adopted by Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 63, and Donald Lantz, 64-will share the settlement through a trust established to support their ongoing recovery. Many of the children continue to face significant challenges resulting from the trauma of their abuse.
L. Dante’ diTrapano, the attorney representing the children, emphasized the settlement’s importance: “It means that these kids will have an opportunity to be children. They were robbed of their innocence and robbed of their youth by the monsters that were their former parents.”
Whitefeather and Lantz were both sentenced to lengthy prison terms for their crimes. Whitefeather received a 215-year sentence, with a parole eligibility after 40 years, while Lantz was sentenced to 160 years, requiring at least 30 years served before parole consideration. The couple was also ordered to pay $280,000 in restitution to the children.
The abuse came to light in October 2023, when authorities discovered three of the children locked inside a dark, windowless shed on the couple’s property in Sissonville, West Virginia. The shed had no lights, food, or running water, and was under constant surveillance by a camera.
A 9-year-old girl was found locked inside the main house. The children were found in poor condition, wearing soiled clothes and suffering from sores on their feet.
Neighbors had reported suspicious activity to CPS multiple times but never received any response or follow-up. One neighbor, Joyce Bailey, testified that she had witnessed the children being forced to perform hard labor, including carrying heavy fencing and hauling water and propane tanks. She described the children as “worked to the bone,” noting that the oldest child could “barely walk” at times.
Racist text messages and testimony revealed that the children were subjected to demeaning treatment. The oldest child, now 18, recounted how she was made to dig with her hands, fed only peanut butter sandwiches, and forced to use a bucket for a toilet. She also testified that her adoptive parents refused to eat from the same plates and called her “dirty.”
Despite these alarming accounts, CPS failed to properly investigate. According to diTrapano, the agency left a card at the family’s home rather than making direct contact, and during interviews, the abusive parents were allowed to remain close enough to overhear the children’s statements.
“There were a ton of calls that came in from neighbors, and I think only one visit out there,” diTrapano said. “There should have been many more.”
He criticized the entire child welfare system, calling it “broken” and in need of urgent reform regarding employee quality, investigative procedures, and the seriousness with which reports are handled.
A spokesperson for West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey noted that the CPS worker involved in this case was terminated by the previous administration. The Morrisey administration has since implemented several reforms aimed at strengthening the state’s child welfare system, including leadership restructuring, clearer expectations, and enhanced training.
This settlement not only provides financial support to the survivors but also highlights systemic failures in protecting vulnerable children, underscoring the critical need for ongoing oversight and reform within child protective services.