A report from the Office of the Child Advocate released Wednesday criticized the Department of Children and Families and the probate court for failing to protect a young woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted by her court-appointed guardian for over a decade, during which time she became pregnant and gave birth to his child.
The young woman, whom the report refers to as Jane Doe, reported to the police in May 2023 that her court-appointed guardian, Roger Barriault, had “sexually assaulted her on a near daily basis throughout her childhood,” beginning in 2004 and ending in 2015, according to the Child Advocate’s report.
At the age of 12, she became pregnant, and at 13, she gave birth to a daughter. Early in 2024, paternity tests verified that Barriault fathered Jane Doe’s child, and he and his wife Darlene were both arrested — Barriault on charges of first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child, and his wife for risk of injury to a child, according to the report.
But the Child Advocate’s report states that the state Department of Children and Families failed to investigate despite repeated concerns raised around the treatment of children living at the Barriault’s home, including multiple allegations of sexual assault.
A 13-year-old identified as Mary, who was the child of a friend of the Barriaults, alleged in 2005 and again in the summer of 2006 that Barriault had touched her inappropriately.
Jane Doe came under the Barriaults’ care in 2006 when she was 10 after her guardian moved out of state. Jane, who was 11 in the summer of 2006, said Barriault hadn’t assaulted her.
But DCF, despite being aware of Mary’s allegations, did not list Barriault as an alleged sexual abuser in its electronic database, which would have flagged his name in their system, according to the Child Advocate’s report. A state law requiring that an investigation and written report be made to the probate court in the case of alleged abuse or neglect was waived when Barriault became Jane Doe’s temporary guardian.
In 2007, Mary recanted her allegations against Barriault, and the criminal charges were dropped. Jane Doe became pregnant in 2008 at the age of 12. During another DCF investigation, she claimed the father of the child was a young man she’d met at a party and denied being assaulted by Roger Barriault.
Although DCF had initially substantiated Mary’s allegations of sexual abuse and placed Barriault on its central registry, Barriault appealed, and his name was removed. The DCF allegations were administratively overturned because the criminal case had been resolved without a conviction.
Jane Doe gave birth to her daughter in 2008. The probate court appointed the Barriaults as the baby’s guardians. DCF did not do an assessment of the Barriaults at the time.
A few years later, questions started to arise about the identity of the father of Jane Doe’s child. In 2012, during a DCF investigation regarding the guardianship of another child, Barriault refused to take a paternity test, the Child Advocate’s report states.
“Throughout these involvements with DCF, DCF documented that Mr. Barriault was argumentative and did not permit the children in his care to be interviewed alone. DCF did not notify the police of the allegations of sexual assault,” the report states.
In 2015, DCF received copies of text messages from Barriault to Jane Doe that included “look at r beautiful girl we have to gather,” and “look at that beautiful girl I gave you.”
“DCF took no action, either at the time that it received the text messages or at the time of the assessment, to notify the police,” the report states.
“DCF conducted an internal legal consult and a decision was made not to file a neglect petition, despite a decade of sexual abuse concerns and the recently acquired text message evidence of an apparent admission of paternity,” the report states. “The police were never informed of the paternity allegations and DCF took no further action regarding this concern.”
Over five years, Jane Doe paid more than $23,000 in child support to the Barriaults. She took back care of her daughter in 2020, at the age of 24 or 25, and petitioned the probate court to drop the Barriaults as guardians for the child.
The Barriaults, who acted as guardians for seven children over the course of about 20 years, have received $400,000 in state and federal child aid through the state Department of Social Services. The family was investigated a total of 27 times before Jane Doe went to the police, although only one allegation of abuse was substantiated. Then, in July 2023, DCF again substantiated allegations of sexual assault and once again placed Roger Barriault on the DCF registry.
That same month, Jane Doe filed a lawsuit in Superior Court against Barriault, his wife, and his wife’s mother, who lived with them.
Kerry Robair, Barriault’s lawyer, did not respond to a request for comment. But in court documents, Barriault denied all of Jane Doe’s allegations. He also denied any sexual abuse of the young woman to a reporter from CT Insider in November.
Barriault did not comment on the case when reached by telephone.
Jury selection for the trial is scheduled for October.
The Child Advocate’s report noted that when DCF undertakes an assessment for the probate court in response to a request for a guardian to be removed, it is not treated the way a neglect or abuse investigation would be, even if such an allegation is involved.
“This has significant implications for the accuracy and completeness of information, the availability of information for future assessments, and may create a lack of clarity on whether and when police reports are required,” the report states.
It also noted that the caseworkers who do these assessments don’t get the same training as DCF investigators, and said the quality of the reports from DCF to the probate court varied in “accuracy and completeness.”
“OCA finds that a quality assurance framework is needed at DCF to ensure the quality of assessments submitted to the Probate Court and that certain DCF policies should be amended,” the report states.
Judges in the probate court, the child advocate noted, are not required to receive training in child abuse and neglect, or in recognizing the signs of sexual abuse, and attorney who serve in the probate court do not have to undergo any specific trainings. The report recommended that the legislature create a working group to consider a number of legal changes, including requiring additional training for attorneys serving on probate court panels and for DCF caseworkers who work on probate cases.
The Child Advocate also asked that DCF save its assessments for probate court within its electronic system, that they be required to report allegations of sexual abuse to the police, and that they create a “quality assurance framework” for assessments written for the probate court.
In a response to the child advocate’s report, the Department of Children and Families said its system “has evolved significantly over the past 20 years” and did not further comment on Jane Doe’s case.
In response to the Child Advocate’s findings, the DCF said its role in probate court cases was “intentionally different” from its work investigating neglect and abuse claims. The department said its work in the probate court “allows probate workers to carry a higher caseload than social workers handling child abuse and neglect investigations while still permitting them ample time to complete thorough and high-quality assessments and reports.”
The department also said that all its social workers, including those who work in the probate court, take “extensive pre-service training related to child abuse and neglect, trauma, assessment, case planning and services to support the safety, permanency and well-being of the children we serve.”
The department said it kept up ongoing communication with the probate court to address any problems.
An official for the probate court declined to comment on the report.
This story was originally published in the Connecticut Mirror.
