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Two separate lawsuits filed in Superior Court in Bridgeport claim counselors at The Boys & Girls Village in Milford and The Children’s Center of Hamden violated state law mandating the reporting of sexual assaults against children, and that they failed to provide proper care to the youth, according to this investigative report in the Connecticut Post.
In one instance, the lawsuits claim staff members at the Hamden center took the youth on outings so that they could “check out” the teacher’s aide, Kyle Damato-Kushel, the Post reported.
Lawyers representing The Boys & Girls Village and The Children’s Center of Hamden did not return calls for comment.
Earlier this month, Damoto-Kushel, who pleaded guilty in the criminal case to second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Damato-Kushel, 48, who worked at Wooster Middle School in Stratford and had been the boy’s preschool teacher, was accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting the youth since the summer of 2013, when he was in seventh grade.
The abuse was discovered in 2015 by Damato-Kushel’s husband, who awoke to hear voices in their Overland Drive, Stratford, home and fearing it was a burglary, called police.
Police said Damato-Kushel offered the boy $900 if he wouldn’t reveal their relationship.
The lawsuits state that the youth received mental health treatment at the Boys & Girls Village from July 2014, through January 2015, and underwent in-patient care with the Hamden center.
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