A New York mother is suing the school district and county that she says failed to protect her Black daughter from months of torture by a white family before her death.
Portia Duncan and the attorneys for her daughter’s estate made the announcement on Tuesday. She is the mother of 7-year-old Jor’Dynn Duncan.
The $250 million lawsuit claims Suffolk County and Bayport-Blue Point School District missed warning signs that would have saved Jor’Dynn’s life.
“I just want justice served for my daughter,” Duncan told CBS News.
Duncan reportedly lost custody of her daughter because of substance abuse and mental health concerns. Jor’Dynn’s father was incarcerated, so she was placed in the care of his white fiancée, Emily Kelly.
Authorities said the child was terrorized for at least a year inside Kelly’s home. Kelly’s mother, Barbara Renner, 75, and her daughter, Elyssa Seymore, 24, are also accused of torturing the child.
Jor’Dynn died in late December 2025 after going into cardiac arrest.
The three generations of women face multiple charges, including murder, manslaughter, and unlawful imprisonment.
Atlanta Black Star previously reported that an autopsy found that the child had 90 “sharp-force injuries”. Her cause of death was listed as an untreated infection of the wounds.
Kelly’s attorney claims the wounds were self-inflicted.
“They need to do more protecting of our kids because there are no other hands she should have been in than mine,” Duncan told CBS News. “I might have been an addict, but I was … I was a damn good mother.”
Duncan filed a notice of claim accusing Suffolk County of failing to vet Kelly and monitor Jor’Dynn, CBS News reported. She also accused the child’s school district of failing to report chronic absences.
Between January 2025 and June 2025, authorities reported that Jor’Dynn missed 40 days of school, with Kelly and her family making up excuses. They ranged from illnesses and deaths in the family to a made-up trip to Disney World.
The filing also claimed that when Jor’Dynn did go to school, she wore heavy makeup to hide her injuries.
The lawsuit also alleges racial bias in the decision to remove Jor’Dynn from her biological family and place her with Kelly.
“[They] took her from the place where she never missed any school, was getting swimming lessons, and put her into a house of horrors and death,” Lowanda Williams, an attorney for Jor’Dynn’s estate, told CBS News.
Many people online discussed the complex family legal issue.
“A failed drug test? So that’s why the biological mom lost custody? And into the hands of a family of abusers. This system and its flaws. Rehabilitation would have helped, and constant interaction with the biological mom,” @brownrican38 commented on Instagram.
“Family court needs to change its rules and regulations,” @msprettybad added.
“Definitely failed her! That’s ridiculous!! Both the school district and the county. Poor baby,” @claire_child_of_god commented.
“Any lawsuit winnings should go into opening good foster care facilities and drug rehabilitation facilities. No one else,” @sweet_brown_girl added.
“Everyone was unfit!!! The settlement should be donated to programs to protect the most vulnerable children, to aid in preventing crimes like this moving forward!” @shay_dollaz wrote.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to Duncan for comment but hasn’t heard back.
Suffolk County and Jor’Dynn’s school district said they cannot comment on pending litigation.
