8-year-old girl, adopted by Rubin Stephen and Bettie Ramirez, was starved, had her arms and legs tied with tape, and was beaten with a cane to the point her brain and skull began bleeding. Her 10 year old sister and 6 year old brother were in the same home. CPS had been contacted numerous times.

Date: 2007-08-24

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Location

San Antonio, Texas
United States

See map: Google Maps

Patricia Harris, 54 year-old woman, pleaded guilty to second-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse of her three children ages 5, 6, and 8 whom she adopted in April 2006 after serving as their foster parent.

Date: 2007-08-17

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Sexual abuse

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Location

Danville, Kentucky
United States

See map: Google Maps

Siblings from Ukraine adopted 5 years prior to the abuse allegations by Georgia couple Earl and Deborah Dinkler. The children had been forced to run 15 laps around the property before breakfast "just about every day" for the last four years. If the parents weren’t satisfied with their children’s speed, they would be punished with a belt, a miniature baseball bat or a bamboo rod. The Dinklers also withheld food and water as punishment.
Deborah Lynn Williamson-Dinkler pleaded guilty, and Earl Thomas Dinkler was convicted of cruelty.

Date: 2007-08-09

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Location

McDonough, Georgia
United States

See map: Google Maps

14-year-old boy, adopted by a couple from Manitoba, Canada, killed both his adoptive mother and his adoptive sister with a rifle. The boy claimed years of abuse prior to the shooting.

Date: 2007-08-01

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Location

St Lazara, Manitoba
Canada

See map: Google Maps

Eleven teenagers and young adults were held like prisoners in Trinidad native Judith Leekin's home in what appeared to be a decades-long scheme to line her pockets with the government payments she received for adopting and raising them. She adopted at least 11 children and fostered at least 22 children. One of the children an 18-year-old boy named Shane Graham, aka Moo, with autism, Down syndrome and needing round the clock care, is missing, and presumed dead. An infant placed with Ms. Leekin died in 1988 of "crib death".

The children did not attend school. The police and CPS investigated Leekin for abuse in 1999.

Date: 2007-07-30

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Economic exploitation, Death by unknown cause

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Disabilities: yes

Home schooling: yes

Location

Port St Lucie, Florida
United States

See map: Google Maps

53-year-old UAE national A.S. was yesterday sentenced to eight years in jail for molesting his illegally adopted minor daughter repeatedly and for misrepresentation of facts to obtain her birth certificate. His wife, M.K., 30, was awarded a three-year jail term for helping him to obtain the certificate. A.S. said "I am a God-fearing Muslim and a haj"

The child's Iranian biological mother, M.A., 30, and an Emirati housewife, M.B., 30, who mediated between the couple and the Iranian, were sentenced to five years in jail followed by deportation for helping A.S. to get the birth certificate.

Date: 2007-07-12

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father

Location

Dubai
United Arab Emirates

Three boys adopted by an unordained priest from Huntsville Alabama were sexually abused by him. Circuit Judge Karen Hall sentenced Jerry Wayne Love, 51, to 15 years on each of three first-degree sodomy charges. But she followed the prosecutors' recommendation, ordering Love to spend five years on probation and undergo treatment in a sex offender program.

In the 1990s Love and his wife were named as adoptive parents of the year by the Madison County Department of Human of Resources

Date: 2007-07-09

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father

Location

Huntsville, Alabama
United States

See map: Google Maps

7 year girl from Ukraine was brought to the US by Delaware man in 1999 after her foster family in Ukraine agreed to the move. He abused her sexually for six years. In 2005 the girl's former Ukrainian foster family visited and the girl told about the abuse. Karpov, a Ukrainian native, fled and was eventually found in 2007 by Mantega, CA, police. He is charged with 50 counts of first-degree rape and one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child

This was an informal foster or adoption arrangement, and likely there was no homestudy,etc.

Date: 2007-07-07

Placement type: To be adopted

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father

Location

Newark, Delaware
United States

See map: Google Maps

Almost 2 year old Malachi died of massive brain injuries. His foster mother Linda Coleman was charged.

Date: 2007-06-30

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Foster mother

Location

San Diego, California
United States

See map: Google Maps

A boy suffers severe brain damage while in foster care with his brother in June 2007. The foster mother has been charged with aggravated assault in connection with the injuries.

Date: 2007-06-02

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Foster mother

Location

Rocky Mountain House, Alberta
Canada

See map: Google Maps

Foster parent charged with shaking child: 2-year-old suffered brain damage, will need long-term nursing care. Matthew's wife Cassiopia has not been charged.

Date: 2007-06-01

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Foster father

Location

waco, Texas
United States

See map: Google Maps

The six year-old blind girl was living with her adoptive parents, also blind. She was adopted in July 2005.
In May 2007, the adoptive father was placed under arrest warrant for indecent assault and technical rape. 

Date: 2007-05-30

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father

Location

Jurbise, Hainaut
Belgium

Tarquin Craig Thomas, a UK citizen living in the US, sexually abused a 9 yr old Oregon boy in his care. The abuse was immediate and daily after the boy entered his care in 2005. Pornographic images, including bestiality, of other children he 'mentored' were found in his home.

Date: 2007-05-24

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Foster father

Location

San Mateo, California
United States

See map: Google Maps

Two girls in foster care with Ted A. Klaudt, a member of the South Dakota House of Representative, were raped and sexually exploited.

Date: 2007-05-19

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse, Sexual exploitation

Abuser: Foster father

Location

Walker, South Dakota
United States

See map: Google Maps

3-year-old boy in foster care with Christine Woodward and Lasana Karva was beaten to death.

Date: 2007-04-08

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Foster mother

Location

Belleville, Michigan
United States

See map: Google Maps

Eugene Richard Putnam admitted he sexually molested four adopted daughters. Putnam also beat three of his adopted children with a plastic or rubber device.He also faces four counts of child abuse, one count of child neglect and one count of committing a lewd act with a child. Putnam’s charges were filed in March 2007, following a multijurisdictional investigation of the girls’ allegations of molestation and abuse. Mrs Putnam was charged with abuse and neglect.

Date: 2007-04-07

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Sexual abuse, Non-lethal neglect

Abuser: Adoptive father

Location

Porter, Oklahoma
United States

See map: Google Maps

13-year-old girl adopted by Christopher and Eva Pitzer was encouraged to drink alcohol at a party in honor of her adoption and later raped by her adoptive father.

Date: 2007-04-00

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Location

Haysville, Kansas
United States

See map: Google Maps

11-year-old girl who had been adopted by the Archarya family two years earlier, was systematically raped by the eldest son, Bishnu, and his relative Bedhari Bhattara. 

Date: 2007-03-11

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Non-adopted sibling, Other family member

Location

Kaski district
Nepal

9-year-old quadriplegic boy with cerebral palsy was placed by his mother, Elena Andron, into foster care because she had lost her job and couldn't afford to care for him. Johnny died March 9, 2007 at Monroe Foster Home. His weight dropped from 80 to 40 pounds while there. His mother frequently complained about his weight loss, but her concerns were ignored and she was barred from further visits.

November 4, 2008, the family of Johnny Dragomir sued Community Living Services Inc., the organization responsible for his placement.

Date: 2007-03-09

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal neglect

Abuser: Undetermined

Location

Detroit, Michigan
United States

See map: Google Maps

7-year-old girl in foster care with her aunt Genevieve Barea was found dead, severely malnourished and bruised.

Date: 2007-03-09

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse, Lethal neglect

Abuser: Foster mother

Location

Evans, Colorado
United States

See map: Google Maps

18 month old girl adopted from Kazakhstan in November 2006 along with a sibling, died from suspected abusive head trauma 6 months after the adoption. Father Jeffrey Spohn was charged with first degree murder.

Date: 2007-03-02

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father

Location

Seven Oaks, Florida
United States

See map: Google Maps

Former foster parents of the year Bessie and Mechelle Saffold, neglected and battered five children they adopted.

Date: 2007-02-28

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal neglect

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Location

Indianapolis, Indiana
United States

See map: Google Maps

A 6 year old girl and an 8 year old boy were deprived food and water, which resulted in severe malnourishment. The adoptive father was living out of state at the time.

Date: 2007-02-26

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Location

Gardnerville, Nevada
United States

See map: Google Maps

3-year-old girl adopted by Troy and Rosetta Sweeting was beaten to death by her adoptive father.

Date: 2007-02-25

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father

Location

New Providence
Bahamas

Three children were abused for six years by their adoptive parents, in Becancour Quebec. They have been beaten with fists, feet and with sticks. The children were also subjected to backbreaking works for their age. Parents were sentenced to community service.

Date: 2007-02-19

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Location

Becancour, Quebec
Canada

See map: Google Maps

Eight year old boy was scalded in bathwater. His adoptive parents waited six weeks before seeking treatment for him.

Date: 2007-02-17

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Lethal neglect

Abuser: Adoptive father

Location

Green Bay, Wisconsin
United States

See map: Google Maps

3-year-old girl in foster care with Robert and Betty Clinton was sexually abused by her foster father, who took pictures of the assault. Robert Clinton was arrested for the possession of child pornography when the abuse was discovered.

Date: 2007-02-16

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Foster father

Location

Deltona, Florida
United States

See map: Google Maps

Date: 2007-02-15

Placement type: Institution

Institution: Hamro Jivan orphanage

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Legal guardian

Location

Kathmandu, Bagmati
Nepal

Three-year-old boy died of a massive brain injury caused when his skull hit a toilet bowl. Foster mother was convicted of manslaughter.

Date: 2007-01-26

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Foster mother

Location

Edmonton, Alberta
Canada

See map: Google Maps

Girl whose mother died of cancer was adopted by relatives James and Delois Spellman. James raped her for 3 years starting at age 10 before she was removed from the home due to physical abuse scars. He had previously raped his 3 step-daughters who are now adults. Delois Spellman is alleged to have physically abused all 4 girls with items such as electric cords and metal rulers.

Date: 2007-01-01

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Sexual abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Location

smithfield, North Carolina
United States

See map: Google Maps

Date: 2006-12-20

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Other non-family member

Location

Salisbury, Maryland
United States

See map: Google Maps

15-year-old boy in foster care overdosed on methadone his foster parent kept in the house after having been abused for years.

Date: 2006-12-10

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Undetermined

Location

Stevens County, Washington
United States

See map: Google Maps

6-year-old girl in foster care with Joyce Luvern Burks was body slammed to the floor by the 14-year old son of her foster mother, causing her to suffer skull fracture, brain damage, internal bleeding and bruising to her eye, hip and arms. Ms. Burks delayed helping Katherine while washing the blanket on which the girl had been beaten.

Later five-year-old Claire Fowler received Katherine's heart through transplantation.

Date: 2006-12-03

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse, Lethal neglect

Abuser: Foster mother, Non-fostered sibling

Location

DeSoto, Texas
United States

See map: Google Maps

Four boys and two girls, between the ages of 7 and 16 were being locked up in the basement of their house.

Date: 2006-11-22

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal neglect, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Location

Colorado Springs, Colorado
United States

See map: Google Maps

8-year-old twin girls adopted by Tamika Shuntell Williams, were being beaten, tied to a bedroom door, tied down to a bed, bathed in bleach, burned with cigarettes (AND the lighter), struck with a belt, bitten on the head, and threatened with decapitation if they told anybody about these crimes. they were adopted from foster care Spring 2005.

Date: 2006-11-22

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Location

Warren, Michigan
United States

See map: Google Maps

4-year-old girl in foster care with Daniel and Dania Haros, was beaten to death.

Date: 2006-11-19

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Foster mother

Location

Oceanside, California
United States

See map: Google Maps

1-year old "Baby Andrew" was placed in foster care by James Ryan Hadlock. The boy suffered from fractured legs and ribs, plus bleeding of the brain. Hadlock was sentenced to 100 days imprisonment.

Date: 2006-11-03

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Foster father

Location

Provo, Utah
United States

See map: Google Maps

     

4-year-old boy, in foster to adoption placement with Larry and Hannah Overton, was forced to drink a mixture of water and Cajun spices as punishment. The Overtons waited nearly three hours before taking the boy to an urgent care clinic as he vomited and drifted in and out of consciousness. When they arrived, Andrew was no longer breathing. A day later he died -- 4 months after his placement with the Overtons. Andrew Axel Burd died of hypernatremia or salt poisoning. Andrew consumed the equivalent of 23 teaspoons of Zatarain's Creole Seasoning or 6 teaspoons of pure salt. He also had head trauma as well as bruises and scratches.

Hannah Overton (nee Saenz) was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life; Larry Overton pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and is on 5 years probation.

Mrs Overton and her church, Calvary Chapel of the Coastlands, continue to appeal her conviction in various ways. She maintains that Andrew ate the salt himself, however Andrew's former foster mother, who attended the same church testified she had not seen any pica or eating issues with Andrew during the 18 months he was in her home. (In an unusual coincidence, Hannah's father Bennie Saenz, a former Calvary Chapel pastor, was convicted of murder in 1985.) Overtons homeschooled their school age children. They had 4 bio children and Hannah was 6 months pregnant when Andrew died.

Date: 2006-10-02

Placement type: To be adopted

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse, Lethal neglect

Abuser: Adoptive mother, Foster mother

Home schooling: yes

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Corpus Christi, Texas
United States

See map: Google Maps

A 12-year-old girl who weighed 40 pounds and her 10-year-old brother, who weighed 45 pounds, were found unattended near a church playground in Union County, South Carolina. Both children were adopted from Estonia eight years before.

Date: 2006-09-23

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal neglect

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Location

Jonesville, South Carolina
United States

See map: Google Maps

2-year-old girl in foster care with Carol Poole was beaten to death.

Date: 2006-09-22

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Foster mother

Location

Canton, Michigan
United States

See map: Google Maps

20-month-old boy in foster care with Carlos and Tisha Vega suffered serious injuries -- a broken clavicle and dog bite on the face -- before he was hospitalized Sept. 22, 2006, with a fatal brain injury. He died two days later. The official cause of death was excess accumulation of water in the brain caused by non-accidental trauma.

Date: 2006-09-22

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Foster mother

Location

South Sioux City, South Dakota
United States

See map: Google Maps

Siblings Keyana and Jasmine were abused by foster mother Dunia Soledad Moreno. When Keyana entered the hospital, large clumps of hair were missing and bruises covered her body. She had five cigar-sized burns. Three months after entering the home, Keyana died of blows to her stomach which ruptured her bowel. Jasmine was placed in a new home.
Dunia and foster father Armando Moreno-Garcia parents were convicted of neglect for not seeking medical care over the paninful days it took for Keyana to die. Armando was an uncle of Jasmine and the girls were to be adopted.

Date: 2006-09-04

Placement type: To be adopted

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse, Lethal neglect

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother, Undetermined

Location

Gresham, Oregon
United States

See map: Google Maps

2-year-old boy in foster care with Charlise Adams-Rogers, who beat him to death. Adams-Rogers was sentenced to 5  to 15 years July 3, 2007. Ms Rogers had 3 adopted children and four foster children in the home at the time

Date: 2006-08-16

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Foster mother

Location

Detroit, Michigan
United States

See map: Google Maps

Three boys and two girls were beaten with sticks, belts, shoes, fists and hammers; burned with a clothes iron, the stove, and a curling iron; bitten; kicked; stabbed with knives, forks and sticks; urinated on; forced to eat their own excrement; forced to drink urine; fed rotting food as well as cat food; forced into the clothes dryer and the dryer turned on; beaten while naked; duct taped to a chair or their beds for days; strangled with a belt; held under water; held over a banister by their feet and dropped; made to drink hot sauce with red hot peppers; made to drink from the toilet; forced to go without food for days; forced to wear urine soaked clothing on their heads; and body slammed, along with other abuses.At least two of the victims also detailed sexual abuses and assaults using a toilet plunger.
James was a former lay minister and church trustee

Date: 2006-08-15

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Sexual abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Location

Springfield, Ohio
United States

See map: Google Maps

Date: 2006-07-01

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal deprivation

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Location

Lyman, South Carolina
United States

See map: Google Maps

14-year-old girl from Vietnam, adopted by Eva Maria Hofer, was beaten by her adoptive mother. At the time, Eva Maria Hofer was executive director of German adoption agency ICCO.

Date: 2006-07-01

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Location

Hamburg, Hamburg
Germany (Deutschland)

7-year-old boy, adopted by a Spanish couple in 2001, was so severely beaten by his adopters he ended up in a coma. The boy had been hospitalized before because of abuse.

Date: 2006-06-16

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Location

Spain (Espana)

13 year old girl adopted by Enrique Fabregas, a known drug abuser, who sexually abused her for years.  Enrique had been a boyfriend of Monica's bio mother at one time, but was not at the time of the adoption. Fabregas was also foster parent of Ruth and Estera Tamas. Despite numerous complaints over a ten year period no measures were taken. When finally Ruth and Estera filed complaints, they were taken out of the house, but it still took a year and a half before Monica was removed from Fabregas' house.

Date: 2006-06-07

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father

Location

Redmond, Washington
United States

See map: Google Maps

Angellika Arndt, died from asphyxiation a day after she was wrestled to the ground and held face first on the ground in a chokehold for over an hour by caregivers at Rice Lake Day Treatment Center. She was in Milwaukee County's foster care system at the time.

Date: 2006-05-26

Placement type: Foster care

Institution: Rice Lake Day Treatment Center

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Other non-family member

Location

Rice Lake, Wisconsin
United States

See map: Google Maps

3-year-old Camron and 2-year-old Ethan were in foster care with Shane and Jessica Marquardt. The brothers both suffered blunt trauma to their abdomens causing Camron to die of internal bleeding several hours late. Shane Marquardt claimed he flew into a rage after finding vomit in Camron's bed. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison, plus 18 years of extended supervision.

Date: 2006-05-05

Placement type: Foster care

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Foster father

Location

Waupun, Wisconsin
United States

See map: Google Maps