MANCHESTER – New Hampshire’s nonprofit Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, was named as a defendant in a lawsuit against the state and the Division for Children, Youth & Families for the alleged sexual assaults on two young girls while in DCYF care.

Bedford attorney Rus Rilee is suing the state, Easter Seals of New Hampshire and now CASA NH on behalf of the adoptive parents of two girls, J.B. and N.B., who were "horrifically" sexually assaulted by their biological parents while the DCYF, CASA and Easter Seals were supposed to be supervising the case, according to the lawsuit.

CASA supplies trained volunteers, guardian ad litems, to advocate for children involved in abuse or neglect cases. CASA representative Carolyn Cote said Friday her organization could not comment on the lawsuit.

"We haven’t received a copy of the complaint, and until we’ve had a chance to review it, we can’t comment on it," Cote said.

The original lawsuit, filed late last year, did not name CASA as a defendant. On Friday, Rilee filed an amended complaint that alleges a CASA volunteer was part of the support system that allowed the girls to be abused by their parents.

The biological parents are serving life prison sentences after they were convicted of assaulting the girls during unsupervised visits arranged by the DCYF and CASA, the lawsuit states. Part of the criminal case uncovered video recordings the parents took of the sexual assault of the girls, ages 4 and 18 months at the time. The videos depict violent sexual assaults on the children by their biological parents.

According to the lawsuit, DCYF staffer Jennifer Damien and CASA guardian ad litem Lynn Liptay were told numerous times by the foster parents that the children were being abused by the biological parents. The children had been removed from their parents in 2012 and sent to live with the foster parents, who went on to adopt them.

Throughout 2012 and 2013, Damien, Lipay and an Easter Seals volunteer, known as "Missy" in the lawsuit, supervised visits between the children and the biological parents. During some of the supervised visits, the children were assaulted during "bath time," when the Easter Seals volunteer allowed the parents time alone with the children, according to the lawsuit.

In September 2013, the Claremont Police Department sent Damien a copy of an investigative report in which the biological father is accused of sexually assaulting another child. New in Friday’s filings is the email Claremont Detective Emily Cobb sent Damien, including the report.

Damien continued to allow unsupervised visits with the parents even after being sent the police report. This was finally stopped in November 2013 when the oldest child started telling the foster parents about being sexually assaulted, resulting in the biological parents’ arrest.

When confronted by the adoptive parents and Cobb, Damien reported said she wanted to give the biological parents "the opportunity to fail," according to the lawsuit.

Last month, the state filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying that the state can’t be held responsible for the actions of the biological parents. Rilee pushed back against this argument in his filing. He stated that the children were harmed because the DCYF failed to do its job and follow its own policies and procedures to protect the children.

The DCYF is already under fire for the deaths of Nashua’s Brielle Gage and Manchester’s Sadie Willott, both younger than 5. Brielle and Sadie were killed by their respective mothers despite DCYF involvement in both households.

Brielle’s mother, Katlyn Marin, is appealing her second-degree murder conviction, and Katlin Paquette, Sadie’s mother, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in that case.

The deaths sparked an independent report, released last month, that showed the DCYF is failing to protect children, in part because staff is overworked and a high turnover rate.

Rilee, who is representing the estates of both Brielle and Sadie, said he plans to file lawsuits in those cases soon.

Damien Fisher can be reached at 594-1245 or dfisher@nashuatelegraph.com.