Cases

Four children adopted by Richard and Martha Roesch were physically abused by their adoptive parents. One was stabbed with a fork, another was shocked with a cattle prod in the genitalia.

16-year-old boy adopted by Ernest and Heather Franklin was killed by his adoptive parents. They set the house on fire in an attempt to make it look like an accident.

Two girls adopted from Mongolia and China by Mary Heller were starved and neglected by their adoptive mother.

Adopted by Randy and Kathy Johnson, Rachel was sexually abused by her adoptive father. Randy Johnson was sentenced to probation for child endangerment and indecent exposure.

Children were taken from their original families without consent and judges in Uganda were bribed to process the cases.

5-year-old boy adopted by Brett Parker Tobiasson, 31, and his wife, Clarissa Anne Tobiasson, was locked in a small room in the basement. His diet consisted mainly of carrots.

Boy adopted by Brandon and Melissa Hoffman was sexually abused by his adoptive father between January 2006 and September 2010, but only reported the incidents in 2017, after becoming an adult. Hoffman received 32 months probation. On June 2, 2023 he died, age 50.

In 2009 Brandon and Melissa Hoffman received the Congressional Angel in Adoption Award. They were nominated by Jerry Moran.

5-year-old girl adopted by Samantha Osteraas was scalded in the bathtub by her adoptive mother, resulting in third-degree burns over more than 70 percent of her body. Osteraas was sentenced to 15 years in prison plus 15 years probation.

Before being placed with Osteraas, the girl had been in foster care with David and Barbara Frodsham. 

7 children adopted by Allen Richardson and Paula Sinclair were locked in a room and fed only rice and beans. The children were beaten with a broom, belt or paddle.

14-year-old boy adopted by Richard and Cynthia Kelly was denied food, failure to provide nourishment and medical care, along with locking their adopted son of two years in a concrete basement for nearly 23 hours a day. The Kelly's were sentenced to a ten-year split sentence with two years to serve.