Nathaniel Michael Craver - (Ivan Skorobogatov)

According to reports, an autopsy revealed that the boy's death was caused by a number of traumatic brain injuries.  Nathan/ Ivan had over 80 external injuries, 20 of which were to the head.  Twenty.  Twenty injuries to the brain.  Four days before it was decided Nathan should be taken off life-support, his adoptive parents claimed the little boy fell down the stairs, and hit his head.  A day after that spill, the adoptive parents took an unconscious Nathan / Ivan to the hospital. 

In another post, about another abused adoptee, (Infant Charlie), assistant Huron County prosecuting attorney describes the adoptive mother very simply; "She looks and acts so prim and proper. She fooled everyone. No one thought she could be a child abuser,"

Very few seem to think an adoptive parent, one who passed an adoption agency's home-study, can be a child abuser.  Why?  Because the person capable of harming a child can act so prim and proper.  Child abusers often are very good actors, very good liars.  They can easily act one way out in public... they can easily say certain (convincing) things to those outside the house/family, but behind closed doors.... boy, things sure can change, quickly!   Get that prim and proper person mad and upset.... get that perfectionist royally pissed... well, let's just say, scary things can happen, and you can bet your bottom dollar, that "well-respected" adult will find a quick and easy excuse to explain cuts, lumps and bruises found on a child who was adopted and has an "unknown history".

My heart breaks when I read our collected Abuse Cases.  My heart sinks when I take the time to really read the articles and realize just how many adoptees have sustained some sort of head trauma or brain injury.  My heart wants to disappear and turn black when I remind myself what fake liars some AP's can be.  All this is made more interesting when it's coupled with a recent study on child abuse.

Yesterday, HealthDay featured an article written by Alan Mozes, titled, Child Abuse Head Injuries Rise as Economy Falls.  In this piece, it states: 

"Abusive head trauma -- previously known as 'shaken baby syndrome' -- is the leading cause of death from child abuse, if you don't count neglect," noted study author Dr. Rachel P. Berger, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "And so, what's concerning here is that we saw in four cities that there was a marked increase in the rate of abusive head trauma among children during the recession compared with beforehand."  
"Now we know that poverty and stress are clearly related to child abuse," added Berger. "And during times of economic hardship one of the things that's hardest hit are the social services that are most needed to prevent child abuse. So, this is really worrisome."

Later in the same article, Jay G. Silverman, associate professor of society and human development and health at the Harvard University School of Public Health in Boston and director of Harvard's Violence Against Women Prevention Research, adds:

where there's a significant bump in rates of abusive head trauma, there's most probably also an increase in less easily tracked forms of abuse.

"Abusive head trauma is one of the most observable indicators of child abuse, because they result from the most extreme domestic violence that requires hospitalization," he noted. "But there are many, many, many more child abuse cases that we wouldn't expect to show up as traumatic brain injuries in the ER. So an increase seen in head trauma is probably indicative of an even larger problem. And that means that this finding should really be a major public concern."

While I can agree economic hardship can bring-out a bad side in people, let us not forget the anger and the stress "not attaching/ bonding" brings a family, especially to the insecure individual who wanted and waited for years and years to be seen as the ideal spouse and perfect parent-figure.