FOLLOW US

A Chinese-born woman, Olivia Atkocaitis, 19, is suing her US parents claiming she was adopted into slavery. The suit claims she was beaten, starved, kept in a basement, and treated as a slave all her life.

In 2004 when Olivia was 14 months old, she was adopted from China. And she alleges the abuse began when she was 3 years old. 

Denied a normal childhood

Olivia was 14 months old when she was adopted in 2004. And she alleges the abuse began when she was 3 years old. 

Per local news affiliate WMUR she was to a metal column with a dog leash. And her adoptive parents, Thomas and Denise Atkocaitis, made her live in an 8-by-8-foot room in the basement.

The couple had three biological children. The family lived in a four-bedroom, 4,300-square-foot New Boston home on 27 acres of land next to a state forest.

 The other children attended school and were allowed to have normal childhoods. And Olivia was locked up for years in the area she called “the dungeon.” 

Olivia’s room had one window, secured with chicken wire. She was only allowed one meal a day.  She had to use a bucket for a toilet. And according to her siblings, this caused the home to smell.

They only let their adopted daughter upstairs to do multiple chores. From a young age, she had to tend to farm animals. And her mother required massages.

Adopted into slavery

Michael Lewis, Olivia’s lawyer said “Her life was a nightmare, in that she was treated in the most vile fashion. And as the lawsuit indicates, the people who should have protected her didn't. And it's shocking.” 

The suit alleges Olivia was denied her rights under the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude. The state “permitted slavery to exist in its jurisdiction.”

“It takes enormous courage to do something like what she's done here,” Lewis added. “And the big question is whether she's going to be punished for doing that or whether there's going to be an acceptance of some level of responsibility.”

Her nightmare ended in 2018 when she escaped for the last time. After multiple escapes where the police ignored her claims of abuse, this time they listened.

Thomas and Denise were charged with abuse.

Denise pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child endangerment. She got a minimal jail sentence. Her husband pleaded guilty to felony criminal restraint. And he avoided jail altogether.

On Monday the case was filed in Merrimack County Superior Court.

She also named the New Boston police department, New Hampshire’s Division for Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), and two dozen co-defendants in her lawsuit. 

The suit alleges that every step of the way all parties failed to help her. And from the Massachusetts agency that arranged her adoption to the state’s child protection agency, they all ignored her situation.