Teresa Albor
Daily Breeze

MANILA, Philippines -- Changes in adoption laws designed to curb illegal "baby trade" have restricted the ability of foreigners to adopt Filipino youngsters and may mean that many will spend their entire childhood in orphanages.

New regulations, which took effect Aug. 3, ban adoptions of Filipino children by foreigners residing in the country unless at least one prospective parent is related to the child.

Author: Associated Press

Dateline: SALEM

A Roanoke County grand jury indicted a couple on murder charges yesterday in the death of their 4-year-old adopted daughter who was force-fed a fatal dose of salt as punishment for stealing sugar.

Beth Michelle Riggs, 35, was accused of killing Heather Riggs by force- feeding her five or six spoonfuls of a salt-and-sugar mixture. Jack Riggs, 39, was charged because authorities alleged he did nothing to stop her.

Author: The Associated Press

Dateline: SALEM

A couple whose adoptive 4-year-old daughter died after being forced to eat salt have been indicted on murder charges.

A Roanoke County grand jury yesterday charged Beth Michelle Riggs and her husband, Jack Riggs, in the May 16 death of Heather Riggs.

Mrs. Riggs, 35, was accused of force-feeding her daughter five or six spoonfuls of a mixture of salt and sugar as punishment for stealing sugar. Her husband, 39, was charged because he allegedly did nothing to stop the punishment.

Dave Todd
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

A sordid trade in babies abducted or purchased for resale in North America and Europe is out of control in parts of Latin America.

The export trade is so serious in Guatemala that UNICEF has officially asked the government there to take action, said Agop Kayayan, UNICEF's director for Central America.

Babies kidnapped or purchased for as little as $50 fetch as much as $20,000 on the international market.

St. Petersburg Times
Author: JOHN D. McKINNON

TAMPA - Rosa Lee Jones pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing one of her foster children after the boy reportedly rebelled against her religious instruction.

Investigators said 5-year-old Albert Smith's skull was shattered when he was hit with a board on Jan. 8. He died less than a day later.

Albert's 4-year-old brother told authorities that Mrs. Jones hit the boy after he refused to pray. Mrs. Jones, 40, was arrested in March and charged with second-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

PAIR FACE MURDER CHARGES IN DEATH OF GIRL WHO ATE SALT
Author: The Associated Press

Dateline: SALEM

A Roanoke County couple showed no emotion as doctors and police described their 4-year-old daughter's death caused by spoons of salt she allegedly was force-fed as punishment for stealing sugar.

Judge John Quigley ordered murder charges against Jack Francis Riggs, 39, and Beth Michelle Riggs, 35, sent to next month's grand jury after hearing evidence at a preliminary hearing in Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

St. Petersburg Times
Author: MARK JOURNEY

CLEARWATER - Judith Lundy, a white woman convicted of allowing a black foster child to die of dehydration in a steamy room that reeked of urine, apologized Tuesday at her sentencing hearing.

''I'm very, very sorry for what has happened,'' Mrs. Lundy told a Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge. ''It has been a very, very tragic situation. . . . I do take full responsibility.''

METRO DATELINES;

LEAD: The natural mother of Lisa Steinberg filed a notice of claim for $30 million yesterday against the couple charged in the beating death of the 6-year-old girl and against New York City and other defendants. Michele Launders, 27, of Hempstead, L.I., contends that various city departments were aware that Lisa, who died Nov.

Baby Bomber

Thousands of children each year to adoptive parents in Europe or Israel sold - a thriving business for organized gangs.

Teen scarred by adoption seeks his mother

Jul 8, 1988
JANICE MARTIN
St. Petersburg Times

The words in the court record on the boy, 9 years old in 1978, ring cold:

". . . That it is manifestly in the best interest of the child to permanently commit him to the State of Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, or any licensed, child-placing agency willing to receive him, for subsequent adoption."

Thus was Michael Lindsey Turner legally severed from his parents.

Kojo Odo, Head of Special Adoptions for Ohio, Makes the Caring Life Credible : Adoptive Father Has Room in Heart and Home for 35 Unwanted Kids

June 26, 1988|SHARON COHEN | Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio — He's a bachelor who long ago traded the solitary life for 15 loads of wash every day, a four-figure grocery bill every month and enough sons and daughters to fill a classroom--35 in all.

METRO DATELINES; Charges Are Severed In the Steinberg Trial

LEAD: Drug and weapon charges were ordered severed yesterday from the trial of Joel B. Steinberg, who is accused of second-degree murder in the death of Lisa Steinberg, the 6-year-old girl he and his companion, Hedda Nussbaum, illegally adopted.

Drug and weapon charges were ordered severed yesterday from the trial of Joel B. Steinberg, who is accused of second-degree murder in the death of Lisa Steinberg, the 6-year-old girl he and his companion, Hedda Nussbaum, illegally adopted.

Bail Request Of Steinberg Is Rejected

By RONALD SULLIVAN

LEAD: Joel B. Steinberg was denied bail yesterday by Acting Justice Harold J. Rothwax on the grounds that the ''defendant probably is guilty, probably will be found guilty and therefore probably will be sentenced to life imprisonment'' for the death of 6-year-old Lisa Steinberg.

St. Petersburg Times
Author: MARK JOURNEY

CLEARWATER - A 50-year-old white woman was convicted Saturday of allowing her black foster child to die because touching the infant gave her ''the willies.''

An all-white, six-member jury deliberated about an hour before convicting Judith Lundy of manslaughter and third-degree murder in the July 1985 death of 4-month-old Corey Greer.

St. Petersburg Times
Author: MARK JOURNEY

CLEARWATER - Breaking her three-year silence in the case, the foster mother charged in the death of 4-month-old Corey Greer testified Friday that she properly fed and bathed the baby, even though she was overwhelmed with 12 other children.

Judith Lundy, 50, said Corey had a severe rash, urinated a lot and was sometimes difficult to feed. But she said she never saw any indication that the child was gravely ill, although doctors have testified that Corey's sunken eyes and listlessness should have alerted her.