West Virginia settles $4.4M lawsuit for siblings subjected to forced labor

Five Black siblings have reached a $4.4 million settlement with the state of West Virginia following allegations that child protective services failed to intervene during years of abuse and forced labor. The settlement, approved by Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers, represents the maximum amount the state can award.

The children, who were between the ages of 6 and 16 at the time of the abuse, were kept in slave-like conditions by their wealthy white adoptive parents, Jeanne Kay Whitefeather and Donald Lantz. The pair received a combined prison sentence of 375 years for forcing the children to work as farmhands on a property in Sissonville.

A lawsuit filed by the siblings accused the West Virginia Department of Human Services of failing to protect them. While state records reportedly contained notes regarding the children’s living conditions, the agency could not provide documentation proving that Child Protective Services had made contact with the children. Attorney Dante diTrapano, representing the siblings, stated that the settlement provides an opportunity for the children, some of whom suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, to reclaim the innocence and youth they were deprived of.