Alaska to pay $2.4 million in abuse case

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Alaska has agreed to pay $2.4 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the state's foster care system failed to protect two boys from abuse and neglect.

The settlement was announced after two days of testimony in a jury trial that scrutinized the actions of the old Division of Family and Youth Services, the Anchorage Daily News said Tuesday.

An assistant attorney general testified Monday that the boys had been harmed, particularly in 1999 when they saw their foster mother kill another child and then were made to lie about it.

The $2.4 million is in addition to nearly a million already paid by the state to the family of the child killed.

Advocates for the boys, who are now 17 and 18, were seeking $10 million for each boy but agreed to the settlement because the state threatened to tie up any jury award with years of appeals, an attorney told the newspaper.

The state was accused of allegedly mishandling most of the approximately 40 reports of abuse or neglect while the boys were in and out of foster care, the Daily News said.