Horrendous Tales of Abuse Spur Oregon’s $5 Million Settlement for Three Children Under Failed Child Welfare System

The state will pay nearly $5 million in a settlement following the imprisonment six years ago of a 56-year-old great-aunt who is serving 12 years and seven months for criminally mistreating three children she tortured and severely neglected.

The settlement was reached after protracted mediation, and the children – two girls and a boy – have been awarded $1.65 million each. The settlement follows more than 20 complaints by neighbors, counselors, and teachers to the police and child welfare workers over five years.

The Boy Committed Suicide Shortly After Learning About the Pending Settlement

The boy, who was 18 when he learned about the pending settlement, committed suicide in New Mexico on 19 August 2024.

Court records reveal that the boy had said his great-aunt hit him with a bag of books, forced a rag soaked with urine over his mouth, and tied him to a bed with a dog leash.

On 7 September 2016, while in his great-aunt’s care, a neighbor reported that the boy was locked outside doing yard work in his underclothes. The neighbor reported frequently hearing smacking sounds, followed by children’s screams.

The Children Suffered a Litany of Abuse and Torture

The children suffered a litany of abuse and torture, according to court documents. They were sleep deprived and suffered from chronic starvation. Their great aunt, Merlinda Avalos, repeatedly hit them with a broom handle, belt, wooden spoon, and fly swatter.

Other acts of cruelty by Avalos included choking and kicking them, shooting them with a BB gun, forcing the children to go to school in urine-drenched clothes, she made them sleep naked on bare mattresses with the bedroom window wide open, even when the weather was cold, and restricting their use of the bathroom to Sundays when they could have cold showers.

Acts of cruelty and abuse were reported on at least 20 occasions to the Oregon Department of Human Services and 911 from April 2013 to April 2018, when the children were finally removed from the woman’s home. The two girls were five years old when the complaints first began, and the boy was seven years old.

According to legal documents, when the abuse was first reported, the children revealed that their great-aunt made them stand in a corner for hours until late at night, did not feed them, and covered their faces with a shirt, making breathing difficult.

The school also told Child Welfare that there were suspicious wounds and bruises on the children.

On 4 May 2015, an anonymous caller told the Department of Human Services that Avalos frequently locked the children outside in the rain and made fun of them because they smelled of urine and feces. According to the lawsuit, the state agency did not investigate or assess the allegations of child abuse and closed the case.

Subsequently, on 11 February 2016, the state agency said a report by a school counselor that one of the girls had a bruise around her eye and dried blood in her nose was ‘unsubstantiated.’ Then, a month later, the child had a new bruise on her eye, but by the time the Department of Human Services took the child for assessment nine days later, the injury had faded.

They Were Sent to Their Mother Who Suffered a Drug Relapse

When the children were removed from Avalos’ care, they were sent to their mother in New Mexico. However, she suffered a drug relapse, and the children were returned to the care of the New Mexico child welfare agency.

The two girls are now 16 and 17, and their brother was working as an onion picker in New Mexico when he committed suicide.

Avalos is scheduled for release from prison in March 2029. In addition to her sentence, she was ordered to pay more than $20,000 in fines to the children, $6,000 in restitution, and was disallowed from having contact with any minor, other than her son.

The settlement was filed in federal court this week, awaiting approval by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman.