The state will pay almost $200,000 to the parents of a 6-month-old baby who died at a Rutland child care facility to settle a suit the family brought alleging that the Vermont Department for Children and Families failed to properly investigate complaints against the facility and its owner.
A Rutland County jury found Stacey Vaillancourt, the owner of the facility, guilty in December 2023 of both manslaughter and child cruelty resulting in the death of 6-month-old Harper Rose Briar in 2019.
Prosecutors said Vaillancourt caused Harper Rose Briar’s death by giving the baby a sedative she had not been prescribed.
Vaillancourt was sentenced in March to three to 10 years in prison.
A wrongful death lawsuit was also filed in 2021 on behalf of the estate of Harper Rose Briar and her parents, Marissa and Blake Briar.
The lawsuit accused DCF and its employees of failing to properly investigate complaints that Vaillancourt had administered medication to children at her child care facility without receiving parental permission.
According to paperwork filed this month in Rutland County Superior civil court, the state has agreed to pay $195,000 to the estate of Harper Rose Briar to settle the lawsuit. The state admits to no wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
The settlement was first reported Thursday by WCAX-TV.
Joshua Marshall, spokesperson for DFC, stated in an email Friday that the department “does not have a comment beyond what is included in the settlement document.”
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Attorneys for the family could not be reached Friday for comment.
Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan argued during the criminal trial for Vaillancourt that she fatally sedated Harper on the baby’s third day at Vaillancourt’s in-home child care program in Rutland.
The state’s medical examiner’s office ruled the child died of intoxication from diphenhydramine, an antihistamine that has sedative effects and is the active ingredient in medication such as Benadryl.
“The level of diphenhydramine in Harper Briar’s blood at the time of death represents more than one therapeutic dose,” the affidavit stated. “The blood concentration at time may represent one large administration or multiple small administrations.”
Defense lawyers for Vaillancurt argued that someone else could have fatally medicated the child before she arrived at Vaillancourt’s home.
Vaillancort is currently serving her sentence in the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington.
Read the story on VTDigger here: State to pay nearly $200K to family of infant who died at Rutland child care facility .