An out-of-court settlement has been reached in a case involving six children from an Altoona family who were removed by authorities from their parents almost 18 years ago and placed in foster care.

The foster parents, Timothy and Barbara Krause of Houtzdale, eventually adopted the children and the youngsters were never returned to their Altoona roots.

In 2023, three of the children, identified as Matthew, Rebecca and Isaac Krause, as adults, filed a federal civil rights complaint against Blair County (through its child welfare agency), the regional director of Pennsylvania’s Drug Strike Task Force, Clearfield County child welfare and the Krauses.

The complaint charged the children were permanently removed from their Altoona home as a way of pressuring the parents to cooperate with police in a drug investigation.

The three plaintiffs are charging that the removal from the parents violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to be free from governmental interference with their familial associations and their privacy rights.

They also charged that the government failed its duty to protect them while in foster care.

Tim and Barbara Krause in 2020 were found guilty of 22 counts that included endangering the welfare of children, simple assault, terroristic threats and reckless endangerment for their treatment of all six children while in the foster home.

The foster parents, according to the Superior Court in its review of the Krause cases, used racial slurs in referring to the children, forced the children to stand against a wall, knees bent, for long periods of time, deprived them of food for lengthy periods of time, and threatened and beat them.

After a teacher discovered one of the children had bruises, the Krauses removed them from the public school system.

Clearfield County Judge Paul E. Cherry sentenced both husband and wife to a state sentence of seven to 40 years.

Tim Krause has since died, but Barbara Krause, 58, remains incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution at Cambridge Springs, Crawford County.

In her appeal, Krause contended her sentence was excessive, but the Superior Court disagreed, quoting the trial judge who explained the lengthy sentence was necessary to protect the public.

“The nature and severity of these crimes shocked the conscience of the court. These six children were brutalized. The crimes charged were violent and persisted for seven years. This court determined that the aggravated sentences were appropriate to protect the public from these violent criminals and did not abuse its discretion.”

The Superior Court panel, when reviewing Krause’s appeal, stated that it agreed with Cherry.

“The (trial court) determined that a lengthy term of incarceration was warranted due to the gravity of (the) crimes, the need to protect the public from (Barbara’s) violent propensities and to best serve (her) rehabilitative needs.

“We do not agree with Appellant that her sentence for seven years of violent abuse toward her six adopted children is excessive.”

In 2023, three of the six children, represented by attorneys Roy Huntsman of Cedar Hills, Utah, and Mart Harris of Pittsburgh filed the present lawsuit in the District Court in Johns­town.

The complaint not only raised constitutional issues, but included a Monell Claim that contended Blair County ignored state law that requires counties to attempt to reunify children with their biological families, and it charged Blair with failure to resist police attempts “to use children as coercive investigative tools for police investigations.”

Eventually, Clearfield County was dropped from the lawsuit, and the regional director of the Drug Strike Task Force, Randy Feathers of Altoona, denied any part of having the children removed from the home.

The drug task force was at the Altoona home where the children lived on Oct. 20, 2008, investigating drug activity.

Feathers, in answer to the lawsuit, noted he and other agents were at the home that day but, he clarified, Blair County Children, Youth and Families “actually removed the plaintiffs from the home.”

He also denied he ever stated the children would never be returned to their home, as was charged in the complaint.

As the case proceeded through the court system during the last couple of years, the major issue that arose concerned access to Clearfield County’s children and youth records.

District Judge Stephanie Haines granted the attorneys access, but allowed Clearfield County to redact the records, thus protecting confidentiality.

Last December, Haines ordered mediation be conducted.

A mediation conference was held on March 18 and last week Haines reported the case had been settled.

Huntsman explained the settlement is not confidential, but he could not discuss the details until he has the opportunity to confer with Harris, who is tied up in another trial that will last until at least until April 20.

Harris confirmed Huntsman’s comments concerning the settlement.

The settlement, Huntsman said, “is a big deal for the family. Taking six children from a family is a big deal.”

He explained that it was a difficult case to research in view of the redactions to the records.

In talking about his clients — now young adults — “They are alone. They are young. They were all home-schooled. They don’t have it made.”

The children included five males and one female.

Huntsman confirmed that two of the older males are presently serving in the Marines.