exposing the dark side of adoption
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Woman Stands By Husband After He Confessed to Raping Her Daughters

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Stacy and Travis Yates adopted 6 children through the foster care system over the past 10 years. Travis was a Sergeant in the Air Force and Stacy is a stay at home mom. Stacy currently resides in Nixon, TX where she lives with the 3 remaining children ages 16, 14, and 11. Travis was convicted last week on multiple counts of sexual assault on a child and rape. He was sentenced to 37 years in military prison. The victims of his crimes are non other than his own adopted children. The two victims have since moved out of the home and are now 18 and 20 years old.

Travis confessed to the crimes to the Air Force in February 2014 after he was confronted by the children and grandparents. The Air Force OSI headed the investigation and took the statements as well as Texas Child and Family Services. Travis fully confessed in a taped interview with OSI. The two victims had already moved out of the home to live with Stay Yates’s parents in California. However, Travis was not arrested or charged until last week. For over a year after he confessed he was allowed to live in the home with his 3 adopted children. Stacy Yates allowed him to live with her and the children and the Air Force and CPS said there was nothing they could do about it. The biological family tried to get CPS and the Air Force to remove him from the home but they said they were working the investigation and refused to do so. Even though they had a taped confession they could do nothing until JAG decided to prosecute him. CPS said there was no substantiation to remove the kids from the home because the 3 children in question had not made an outcry of abuse. Stacy stood by Travis and supported him throughout the investigation and said he was getting therapy and is being rehabilitated. Their church, First Baptist Church of Nixon, also supported Travis after his confession and frequently posted on their Facebook page, which has since been taken down, to pray for Travis and Stacy. The page was noticeably lacking any request to pray for his victims or the children still under his care.

The public outrage began when KENS5 in San Antonio broke the news of his sentencing three days ago.

People immediately questioned who was protecting the children over the past year when they were forced to live with a child molester. Why did the wife not make him leave to protect her children from a sexual predator? Why did CPS not remove the children from the home and why did the Air Force not require that he move out of the home during the investigation. The Air Force has refused to issue a statement on the matter. A complaint has been filed with CPS and an investigation is underway to discover if there was any mishandling of case.

Now that Travis is behind bars the children are left living in a converted school bus and shipping container parked off of County Road 484 in Nixon, TX with Stacy Yates. They are said to be home-schooled by Stacy. Stacy receives Foster Care compensation from the Federal Adoption Assistance Program in excess of $3,000 per month. Now, with Travis out of the picture this is her only income. There has been a public outcry to get the children out of that home. The foster care support funds are not intended to be used as the sole source of income for the provider, but rather to subsidize the cost to care for the children and provide them with a suitable home, clothing, food, and education. Complaints have been filed with the SSI and CPS to have the funds revoked and the children removed from the residence as it is an unhealthy environment. Many people believe a woman who stands by her husband after he rapes her daughters is not a suitable caregiver. She failed to protect her older children from horrific abuse and knowingly exposed her younger children to the confessed abuser for over a year. The community strongly feels that we need to demand more from our foster care system in America and prevent these children from being placed in abusive homes. Many feel that better screening and background checking need to take place and more oversight on the proper use of support funds needs to be implemented.

2015 May 15