A West Virginia Couple Treated Five Black Children Like Slaves; Now The Kids Will Receive $4.4 Million

After years of abuse and forced labor, five Black siblings finally have resources to heal from the childhood they were denied.

By Phenix S. Halley

(Source: The Root)

They were supposed to be protected. Instead, five Black children were forced to work, abused and treated like slaves by the adults who adopted them. Now, West Virginia will pay them $4.4 million– the state’s maximum settlement– in a case that exposed not only horrific abuse, but a child-protection system that failed to save them.

The children’s nightmare came to light in October 2023, when neighbors reported that two of the siblings, ages 14 and 16, had been locked inside a shed at their adoptive family’s Sissonville home, according to Metro News and the Associated Press. When deputies arrived, they found children living in conditions that prosecutors would later describe in chilling detail: inadequate food, little sanitation, forced labor and confinement. Some were made to sleep on floors and use a bucket as a toilet with no running water, according to local outlets.

But the abuse did not happen in complete silence. Concerns had been reported to Child Protective Services before authorities finally intervened, according to West Virginia Watch. Investigators later found that CPS had failed to meaningfully reach the children, including conducting interviews within earshot of the adults accused of abusing them.

For children already living in fear, that failure carried its own psychological cost. Court statements described nightmares, difficulty trusting others and an enduring fear of affection and authority.

During sentencing, one of the children confronted Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, saying, “I’ll never understand how you can sleep at night. I want you to know that you are a monster.”

The criminal case ultimately produced convictions on 31 of 35 counts, including forced labor, human trafficking, child abuse and neglect, according to the New York Post. Whitefeather was also convicted of civil-rights violations based on race, according to court documents. She was sentenced to as many as 215 years in prison; her husband, Donald Lantz, received up to 160 years.

Judge Maryclaire Akers made clear that the court understood the depth of the betrayal. “You brought these children to West Virginia, a place that I know as ‘Almost Heaven,’ and you put them in hell. This court will now put you in yours,” she said. “And may God have mercy on your souls. Because this court will not.”

The parents still professed love. According to WCHS, Whitefeather told the court, “I love my children.” Lantz said, “I do love you.”

The $4.4 million settlement cannot return the childhood they lost. What it can do is help pay for therapy, medical care, education and the long-term support that healing may require.

Most importantly, the award is an acknowledgment that what happened to these children mattered– and that the system entrusted with protecting them must answer for failing to act. For five Black children who were denied the simple right to be children, this settlement cannot undo the past. But it may help give them the freedom to build a future on their own terms.