In wrongful death lawsuit, Harmony Montgomery's mother alleges negligence by NH officials

The mother of Harmony Montgomery has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the state of New Hampshire, alleging systemic failures in the state’s child protection system.

Crystal Sorey’s lawsuit comes nine months after Harmony’s father, Adam Montgomery, was convicted of beating his 5-year-old daughter to death in 2019, Her body has never been recovered, and a judge ruled Harmony legally dead in March.

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages and answers from the State of New Hampshire surrounding Harmony’s disappearance and death.

Sorey’s lawyer is Rus Rilee, who in May won a $38 million dollar judgment against the state for David Meehan, one of hundreds who say they were physically and sexually abused at the state’s youth detention center.

“We are going to hold the State of New Hampshire accountable for Harmony’s senseless and preventable death,” Rilee said, in an email announcing the lawsuit. “Too many vulnerable children are being injured and killed while under the watchful eye of the State, it has been happening for way too long, and something needs to be done to stop it - enough is enough.”

This suit notes multiple people raised concerns to New Hampshire’s Division of Children Youth and Families, about Harmony’s welfare after a Massachusetts judge placed her in the custody of Adam Montgomery in 2019.

According to the lawsuit, Harmony lived with her mother in Massachusetts after she was born in 2014. A Massachusetts judge awarded Adam Montgomery custody in February 2019, after that state’s child welfare agency “removed Harmony from [Sorey’s] home due to allegations of neglect.” Sorey has said she was struggling with drugs at the time.

Massachusetts officials worked with New Hampshire DCYF, placing the child with Adam Montagomery in Manchester.

Within months, the lawsuit alleges, multiple people made reports to DCYF, expressing concern that Harmony was being abused.

In 2022, Gov. Chris Sununu released a report that said a state child welfare worker contacted Adam Montgomery in 2020, asking about where Harmony was living. Montgomery told the worker Harmony was living with Sorey.

The state left a message for Sorey, but never followed through. Sorey’s lawsuit alleges that the state’s report on their handling of her daughter’s case includes “inaccuracies and omissions in its recitation of the facts which collude to downplay DCYF’s negligence and to mislead the public.”

The Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate released its own report in 2022, acknowledging that the state’s child welfare system repeatedly failed Harmony.