State pays $750K in killings of two children by father

The state paid $750,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing the Division of Youth and Family Services of failing to help two children under its supervision who were later killed by their father, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's office said yesterday.

DYFS admitted no wrongdoing when it settled the case in April, said spokesman Lee Moore.

But a surviving sibling, Amanda Bennett, 20, and her grandparents, who filed the negligence lawsuit, "certainly perceive it as a recognition by the state that DYFS didn't do its job," said the family's attorney, Gregg Shivers of Cherry Hill.

The lawsuit stems from a case in which Scott McCarter shot and killed his wife, Wendy Bennett, and their two children Melanie, 6, and Scott Jr., 12, at their Millville home on May 25, 2006. McCarter then killed himself.

Amanda Bennett, who was Wendy Bennett's daughter, said two days before the shooting, she pleaded with DYFS employees to intervene because her stepfather, who was on trial for sexually abusing her, had moved home. Amanda, who moved in with her maternal grandparents, said she feared for her half-sister's safety.

The Office of the Child Advocate later determined DYFS had made mistakes. The agency never performed a safety assessment when McCarter started spending more time at home, never required he take a psychological exam and missed routine visits with the family, according to the report released 11 months ago.

Shivers credits the child advocate's candid report for the settlement. "Certainly the fact a state agency came to the same conclusions we did, I would imagine had a big impact on the state decision to settle the case instead of taking it to trial," he said.

A spokeswoman for DYFS' parent agency, the Department of Children and Families, declined to comment, referring all comments to the attorney general's office.

Bennett, now a college student, "is doing remarkably well under the circumstances," Shivers said.

"The amount of money is not going to bring back her mother and two siblings," Shivers added. "Her hope is that this and other suits that have come out over the last five years or so will continue to force the state to take a look at the agency and improve it."

In addition to the amount paid by the state, the settlement includes a $100,000 payment made by the insurance company of Richard Hickman, whom Amanda Bennett also sued for allegedly giving McCarter the gun he used against his family, Moore said.

The total $850,000 settlement was split between Amanda Bennett and another beneficiary of Scott McCarter, a daughter in Florida, Moore said. Bennett received $725,000; the other child received $125,000. Leonard Haberman, the attorney for the child in Florida, could not be reached for comment.

Since the state launched an overhaul of its child welfare system in 2003, it has made large settlements to at least two families.

The state in 2006 paid $7.5 million to the estate of Faheem Williams, the 7-year-old Newark boy whose mummified remains were found in the basement of a Newark apartment. He had a twin brother and a younger half-brother.

In 2005, the state paid $12.5 million to four brothers adopted from DYFS whose adoptive mother, Vanessa Jackson of Collingswood, pleaded guilty to depriving them of food and medical care.