NEWS COVERAGE UNFAIR, CARROLL TELLS AUDIENCE

NEWS COVERAGE UNFAIR, CARROLL TELLS AUDIENCE

December 18, 1993

Janice Haidet

Dayton Daily News

Kathleen Carroll says news coverage of her family's yearlong ordeal - during which five of her 10 adopted "special needs" children died - hasn't been fair.

The Cedarville woman and her attorney, John H. Rion, said news reports shouldn't have focused on the deaths, and the circumstances that officials called suspicious, but rather on Mrs. Carroll's courage in adopting "children who nobody else wanted." Their remarks came in response to questions posed by Dayton Daily News columnist Dale Huffman on Friday, during a live radio broadcast of Dale in Dayton on WONE-AM 980.

Rion said Mrs. Carroll and her husband, Timothy, "have turned down virtually every national TV show." At last count, 14 such programs, including the syndicated Inside Edition and the ABC newsmagazine 20/20, had requested interviews.

"(Mrs. Carroll) is completely uninterested in the publicity," Rion said, adding that he agreed to appear on Huffman's program because it is Dayton-based.

Mrs. Carroll, who was adopted herself, said, "I always wanted to adopt children, even as a little child."

She encouraged everyone, "take a special child . . . your life will change forever."

This Christmas, the Carroll home will be much emptier than last year.

Last year, five children spent Christmas in the home.

Since then, one more has died and two have been removed to foster homes, leaving only James, 17, and Hosea, 10, in the Carrolls' custody. The oldest child, Anne Marie, 19, has been held by the Ohio Department of Youth Services since she was charged with attempting to set fire to the Carrolls' former home in 1990.

Two other children, Isaiah, 12, and Samuel, 5, both of whom have physical disabilities, have been in foster care since Aug. 17, after a coroner's inquest revealed disturbing information about four deaths officials consider suspicious.

Visiting Judge Richard T. Cole said in November that the family couldn't be reunited until the Carrolls changed their attitude and obtained more training and equipment to deal with the children's needs.

The custody matter is due for review sometime in February.