WA agrees to $79M payouts for 2 Pierce County kids gravely hurt before adoptions
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- A Pierce County adoptive family sued DCYF alleging it failed to protect two of their kids.
- The kids suffered life-lasting injuries while in the care of their biological parents.
- Washington state agreed to pay $79 million to settle both cases.
Washington state has agreed to pay nearly $80 million to settle multiple lawsuits filed on behalf of two adopted Pierce County children who survived grave injuries in their biological parents’ care while under the watch of the state’s child-welfare agency.
The $45 million and $34 million settlements resolve allegations that the Department of Children, Youth & Families was negligent, ignored red flags and failed to protect a boy and girl in separate cases, court records show. DCYF, which disputed liability and denied wrongdoing, declined to comment for this story.
“It’s a miracle that these children are alive,” attorney David P. Moody, who represented the adoptive family, said in an interview Tuesday. “These settlements tell us that the state has a lot of work to do to protect children and make sure that there are no more Bubbys or Matildas (the names of the child plaintiffs).”
Approved in back-to-back weeks in late May, the payouts are unprecedented.
The settlements “are the largest and second-largest pretrial settlements of tort claims and lawsuits by individual plaintiffs against the state,” Washington State Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Mike Faulk confirmed in an email Tuesday.
In one case, a 9-month-old boy who lived with his biological parents in a dilapidated shed was left alone and engulfed in flames after the shed caught fire in 2020, according to a lawsuit. DCYF had previously opened formal investigations into the boy’s family life in Grays Harbor County. The agency was aware of his poor living conditions and his parents’ drug use and extensive criminal history but didn’t take necessary action, the suit claimed.
In the other case, a 1-month-old girl nearly suffocated in bed while co-sleeping with her biological parents in Cowlitz County in 2022. DCYF had previously concluded that the girl was “at substantial risk” with those parents, citing poor parenting and drug use, and removed their parental rights, according to court records. The agency also created a plan that allowed the parents to live with the girl and her maternal grandmother who had become her foster parent, court records show.
The children in these cases, Leo “Bubby” Strode and Matilda Strode, were later adopted by Tacoma/Lakewood-area residents Sarah and David Strode, who filed the lawsuits against DCYF. The couple have four other adopted children with special needs and two biological kids, according to Moody, who praised the family for stepping up “when nobody else would.”
The settlements resolved four total lawsuits — a state and federal case lodged on behalf of each child. Leo’s case was resolved for $45 million. Matilda’s case was settled for $34 million.
Between the two settlements — after attorneys’ fees and other legal costs — nearly $47 million will be deposited into two special needs trusts overseen by the court to support the children’s lifelong care, according to court records and Moody.
Leo, now 6, was disfigured in the fire, which burned 75% of his body, led to amputation of his hands and six toes and cost him his eyelids and most of his skin, The News Tribune previously reported. He’s had dozens of surgeries and will need future skin-grafting operations as he grows, according to Moody.
Matilda, now 4, is legally blind, deaf and mute after suffering brain damage. Her life expectancy has drastically shortened, with the state determining more than three years ago that she had just six months to live, Moody said.
“Bubby and Matilda are two of the toughest human beings you could imagine,” he said.
Lafcadio Darling, a court-appointed representative of the two children — or “guardian ad litem” — wrote in Pierce County Superior Court filings last month that legal counsel for the state had disputed DCYF acted negligently or recklessly or ignored obvious dangers. Darling noted there were risks for the state in proceeding to trial but also potential defenses to the allegations that it could argue.
“Overall, while I feel that (the plaintiffs have) strong federal and state claims against DCYF, and that a finding of liability was more likely than not, I have no doubt that the case would have been vigorously and capably defended at trial, and the result in the state and federal claims was far from certain,” Darling wrote in reports on the proposed settlements.
The state wouldn’t have agreed to the settlements “if it had any defense for these tragedies,” Moody told The News Tribune.
“The State did not want to face a jury in either case,” he said in a statement following the interview Tuesday. “There is no telling what a jury would have awarded to each child.”
Moody said the U.S. District Court for Western Washington ordered text messages turned over in Matilda’s lawsuit, revealing that a caseworker had admitted to being “totally checked out from the case.”
Moody also noted that the state had previously removed children from Leo’s biological parents and removed Matilda’s older sister from their biological parents but allegedly “did nothing” for Leo and Matilda despite those and other warnings.
“When Bubby needed a family, the Strodes were there. When Matilda needed a family, the Strodes were there,” Moody said in a statement. “The Strodes never gave up. They never will. Bubby and Matilda will need help for the rest of their lives.”
This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "WA agrees to $79M payouts for 2 Pierce County kids gravely hurt before adoptions."
