Social workers knew 7-year-old boy killed and fed to pigs was being tortured by parents, lawsuit claims

The family of Adrian Jones is suing social workers in Kansas and Missouri claiming they knew the little boy was being tortured and abused by his father and stepmother but did nothing to help him.

Adrian's oldest sister, his maternal grandmother and biological mother filed the suits this week in Kansas and Missouri.

In the document, obtained by KCTV, the family alleges that despite documented calls and reports of the abuse over several years, Adrian was not removed from the home.

The family said the little boy's horrific death was an "entirely avoidable child-homicide."

Adrian's remains were found by police in November 2015 in a pig pen at his Kansas home. Prosecutors previously said they believe Adrian, who also went by the nickname AJ, had been starved to death. His father, Michael Jones, then fed Adrian's remains to pigs.

Jones, and his wife Heather Jones, were sentenced to life in prison.

According to the family's lawsuit, social workers in Kansas and Missouri had stacks of paper documenting the abuse.

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"But their idea of intervention was limited, almost exclusively, to having A.J.'s father and stepmother sign a piece of paper agreeing to stop torturing the child - the legal equivalent of a 'pinky swear.' As it turned out, that signed paper might as well have been A.J.'s death warrant," the lawsuit reads.

The suit names the state of Kansas, the Department of Children and Families and its director Phyllis Gilmore. In Missouri, the family named 10 employees from the Department of Social Services in the suit, as well as the Family Guidance Center of St. Joseph and a Kansas City residential children's home.

The family said instead of the agencies intervening in Adrian's case, they "chose to act like disinterested bystanders."

Gilmore, referring to a statement previously released by DCF, told the Kansas City Star that it was hard to keep track of Adrian's parents because they frequently moved between Kansas and Missouri. Gilmore said whenever the family did relocate to Missouri, the department made sure their Missouri counterparts knew what was happening in the home.

"Sadly, despite our efforts, this tragedy unfolded - the very worst possible outcome," she said, according to Kansas City Star.

Officials in Missouri would not comment on the pending litigation.