AUGUSTA – A Waterville woman who claims her former foster father, who was also her state case worker, abused her as a child is one step closer to being allowed to sue the state.

The state Senate voted this week to allow Germaine Bell, who is now in her mid-50s, to sue the state for damages in connection with abuse she says she suffered as a ward of the state in the 1960s.

Bell has accused her former foster father, who was also her case worker for the Maine Department of Human Services, of sexually molesting her and twice impregnating her when she was a teenager. She has said she wants reparations from the state, and to bring her former foster father to justice.

If the House approves the resolution, it will force the state Attorney General’s Office to answer Bell’s charges.

Sen. Kenneth Gagnon, D-Waterville, who sponsored the bill, said if the bill passes, the attorney general is required to try and work out a settlement so the case doesn’t go to court.

Bell has tried for two years to bring a civil action against the Department of Human Services and the man she says raped her. The man implicated in the case has denied Bell’s claims.