A teenage girl who was born in China alleges that her adoptive parents in New Hampshire enslaved, abused her and locked her up for several years. She is now suing them and the New Hampshire state agencies that didn’t stop them from abusing her.
The 70-page lawsuit was filed in New Boston by Olivia Atkocaitis, now 19, against her adoptive parents, Thomas and Denise Atkocaitis, as defendants.
The lawsuit also targets the New Boston Police Department, a Massachusetts adoption agency, the school district, and the state’s child protection system.
The lawsuit says that the agencies neglected and didn’t help her, even after one of her adoptive parent’s biological children reported domestic abuse.
In 2011, when Olivia was eight years old, one of her siblings reported to a school counselor that Olivia was beaten, starved, and pushed down a flight of stairs.
The lawsuit says that the Chinese girl was not allowed to attend school even though all the other children cared for by the parents did.
The school counselor reported the abuse to the police, who visited the home and took photos of the room where Olivia slept. The situation was reported to the State Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
Another child was reportedly being abused while in the home, and was removed, but Olivia was left there.
The agencies are accused of not offering Olivia the same protection as they provide to the older girl, and allege that she was discriminated against. The agencies ignored the abuse even after both parents admitted to locking the girl in a dungeon.
Authorities said the couple locked Olivia up in a small basement room with a single window covered with chicken mesh.
She was only let out to do chores. She was given a bucket as a toilet, according to the children’s accounts revealed to officials in the school.
Olivia tried to escape several times as a child, but authorities always hunted her down and sent her back. According to the lawsuit, during her last escape attempt, local police hunted her down using K9s (dogs).
Olivia’s attorney, Michael Lewis, said her 13th amendment rights were violated in her adoptive parents’ home. He said that even though it is illegal to enslave or force someone into servitude in the country, the state permitted slavery to continue and did nothing to stop it.
The suit also alleges that officers in the various agencies were racist towards Olivia, and that is why they did not rescue her from the torture she endured as a child.
The case went to court in 2018. Denise Atkocaitis managed to avoid jail time by pleading guilty to felony criminal restraint and Thomas Atkocaitis received a short prison sentence.
