NORTH CAROLINA, United States (AP) — A teen found chained to the porch of a house with a dead chicken around his neck is suing his former foster mother as well as social services officials and Union County, North Carolina.

The boy, now 13, claims Wanda Sue Larson used “connections” with local officials to manipulate his custody and that Union County inadequately supervised her, according to reports from local news outlets.

The former Union County social worker and her live-in boyfriend pleaded guilty to multiple child abuse charges. She was sentenced to 17 months in jail, while Dorian Harper got at least six years.

County officials declined to comment on the suit filed last week by the boy’s court-appointed lawyer. A phone number for Larson couldn’t be found.

Prosecutors said a deputy found the 11-year-old boy in 2013. He had been beaten and starved, and forced to sleep on a floor, chained to part of a railroad tie. They said the boy also had marks and scars on his body, a broken wrist and an infected hand, for which Larson never sought medical treatment.