Five children adopted by Jeffrey and Rebecca Trebilcock

One boy and four girls between the age of 10 and 13, adopted by Jeffrey and Rebecca Trebilcock, were systematically starved. The eldest child, a 13-year-old boy weighed just 49 pounds, fifty pounds below average. He gained 25 lbs in the first 2 months away and more than 60 pounds 7 inches in the 15 months after he was removed from the house.

The Trebilcocks, whose 4 biological children (3 adult, 1 minor) were fully nourished, had a custom made alarm system installed to prevent the adopted children from entering the kitchen. They ate a vegetarian or vegan diet, which is encouraged, though not required, by the Seventh Day Adventist church. Becky had had weight loss surgery in Mexico and Jeff was obese.

Two children, a boy and a girl, were adopted from the Washington foster care system in 2004. In 2008, after Trebilcocks had been turned down for more foster care adoptions due to house size, they adopted the 3 girls from Haiti. They had just received an approved homestudy for another private adoption, allegedly for a child from Africa.

Date: 2011-03-01

Placement type: Adoption

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

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

West Longview, Washington
United States

See map: Google Maps