Fundamental faith abuse cases

6-year-old girl adopted by Justin and Marsha Harris was re-homed, together with her 3-year-old sister, six months after the adoption was finalized. She came to live with Eric Cameron Francis, a former employee of Rep. Justin Harris. Cameron sexually abused the girl.

Date: 2014-04-04

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Other non-family member

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Bella Vista, Arkansas
United States

See map: Google Maps

Two girls, aged 11 and 13, adopted five years prior by  Johann and Kimery Jorg were systematically abused by their adoptive parents. Both girls were made to sleep outside using a bucket for a bathroom, and they were not allowed to wear clothes. They were forced to run barefoot in the heat for hours and beaten with a wooden paddle as punishment for supposed “lying and stealing”. The older girl’s hair was also shaved off as punishment. They were systematically deprived of food.

Date: 2014-05-30

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

Peoria, Arizona
United States

See map: Google Maps

Three children adopted by Phillip and Kimberly Loesch in 2008 were deprived of food and were harshly disciplined. Physical beatings consisted of strikes to the hands, head and buttocks with leather "spanking sticks" to the extent the children's hands were swollen and not able to be closed, the affidavit alleges.

The chidlren were also required to put their hands in cold buckets of water as punishment too, or to limit the swelling from the assaults. Using the bathroom was allegedly allowed only with the parents' permission, which sometimes forced the children to have to relieve themselves in their rooms.

One boy was allegedly required to wear a cardboard box on his head to limit his looking around as a punishment to keep him from socializing. The children also slept on the floor for several months with no mattress, pillows, sheets or covers, according to the court records.

Date: 2013-07-15

Placement type: Adoption

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

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Readmond Township, Michigan
United States

See map: Google Maps

3 children internationally adopted by Melissa and Matthew Dumont were allegedly physically, emotionally, and sexually abused. The children are now aged 17 (girl from China), 14 (boy from Thailand), and 13 (girl from China) and were adopted separately. The older 2 have autism and other special needs.

Date: 2013-07-10

Placement type: Adoption

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

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Disabilities: yes

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Manchester, New Hampshire
United States

See map: Google Maps

3 children, aged 9, 10 and 11 years, were starved by their adoptive parents Mark and Susan Hooper. The three children were adopted by the Hoopers in 2007, six years prior to the discovery of the abuse.

Date: 2013-02-01

Placement type: Adoption

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

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Mount Jewett, Pennsylvania
United States

See map: Google Maps

16 month old Serena died of blunt force trauma to her head in 2003. Adoptive mother Tonya Grizzard Cate was charged with capital murder in 2005. The father was not charged. The case has not gone to trial yet.

Date: 2005-01-03

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Gadsden, Alabama
United States

See map: Google Maps

Three children adopted from foster care by John and Carolyn Jackson were allegedly assaulted with various objects by the adopters. The children allegedly sustained fractured bones, which no medical attention was sought for. Furthermore, the children were allegedly withheld food and water and were forced to to consume food that caused them pain and suffering, such as red pepper flakes, hot sauce, and/or raw onion.

One of the three children adopted by John and Carolyn Jackson died May 8, 2008.

John and Carolyn Jackson home schooled their children and claim the Department of Youth and Family Services persecute them for their religious beliefs. John E. Jackson is a Major in the U.S. Army.

Date: 2010-04-16

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

Mount Holly, New Jersey
United States

See map: Google Maps

Sexual abuse among siblings in a family of 24 adopted, foster and (9) biological children. Some of the children came from disrupted placements and/or were family to family adoptions. Eight of the children were originally adopted from the Philippines. Some of the children were home-schooled. At least one child had a history of sexually abusing girls prior to entering the home.

Criminal charges were filed against two of the Dunhams’ biological children and one adopted son. The biological sons were convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. The adopted son was found not guilty after a trial before a Stearns County judge, possibly because a sibling in Florida refused to come and testify.

Date: 2008-11-01

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Adopted sibling, Non-adopted sibling, Undetermined

Home schooling: yes

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Holdingford, Minnesota
United States

See map: Google Maps

A 16 year old girl adopted by Stacey Garrett Begay and his wife Terry D. Begay was sexually abused for months before being discovered by Mrs. Begay who fired shots at both her daughter and Stacey Begay. Stacey provided a written confession. Later he recanted and requested he be allowed to be free so “that I can keep on doing Jehovah’s will.” Begay is a Jehovah's Witness. Mrs. Begay was charged with perjury after Begay's conviction as she was not cooperative on the stand.
DNA proof showed that Stacey was the father of his adopted daughter's child.

Stacey Begay was found guilty of abuse in two separate trials.

Date: 2011-04-27

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Sexual abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Tahlequah, Oklahoma
United States

See map: Google Maps

15 year old girl adopted by Diana and Samuel Franklin was confined in a chicken coop, required to wear a shock collar, and had food and water restricted.

Date: 2012-05-30

Placement type: Adoption

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

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Home schooling: yes

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Butler, Georgia
United States

See map: Google Maps

Some of seven children, adopted from the foster care system by Peter and Tamara Gable, were physically abused by their adoptive parents. The abuse consisted largely of cruel and unusual punishment.

Date: 2012-04-01

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Middlefield, Connecticut
United States

See map: Google Maps

A 6-year-old boy and an 18-month-old girl, adopted from Ethiopia by Douglas and Kristen Barbour, were severely maltreated by their adoptive parents. The boy was malnourished and had skin lesions and the girl had signs of multiple skull fractures (abusive head trauma)  which caused her to be blind in one eye and partially paralyzed.

Date: 2012-09-14

Placement type: Adoption

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

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Franklin Park, Pennsylvania
United States

See map: Google Maps

Boy born Oct 16, 2006 in Hangzhou, China and adopted to the US by Rick and Deah Adams. Died December 3. 2011 from ingesting a large amount of vinegar. His death was ruled a homicide by the county coroner. Deah Daniele Adams was charged with reckless homicide.

Date: 2012-02-10

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive mother

Disabilities: yes

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Lexington, Kentucky
United States

See map: Google Maps

Frank and Catherine Voegtlin were adopted by Roger and Sharon Voegtlin. Roger Voegtlin, a fundamentalist Baptist preacher severely beat the children. Frank was made  to wear a dress in day camp for the entire day to show everybody "what a sissy I was".

Date: 2011-09-22

Placement type: Adoption

Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse

Abuser: Adoptive father

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Chesterton, Indiana
United States

See map: Google Maps

   

13-year-old girl adopted from Ethiopia in 2008, by Larry and Carri Williams, died after being forced to stay outside the home on a rainy night. Hana Williams had Hepatitis B and was adopted at age 10 along with an unrelated 7 yr old deaf boy, Immanuel from Kidane Mihret orphanage. Williams had 7 bio children.

Both adopted children were beaten with various implements, hosed off, and forced to eat wet sandwiches and frozen food outdoors. Hana was frequently locked in a closet and made to sleep in a barn. She was required to use an outdoor hose to shower and port a pot for elimination.

The coroner said Hana's cause of death was “hypothermia and chronic starvation caused by a parent’s intentional food restriction, severe neglect, physical and emotional abuse and stunning endangerment.” Hana had H Pylori and Giardia (easily treated parasites). Hana weighed 78 lbs, having lost 30 pounds in the year prior to her death, and was about the same weight as when she arrived from Ethiopia 3 years earlier.

The Williams attended several churches but were home churching around the time Hana died. The Williams read and recommended "How to Train Up a Child". Both children were homeschooled and beaten with a belt, wooden spoon, a plumbing supply rod, and a gluestick.

Date: 2011-05-12

Placement type: Adoption

Institution: Kidane Mehret Children’s Home

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

Abuser: Adoptive father, Adoptive mother

Disabilities: yes

Home schooling: yes

Fundamentalist faith: yes

Location

Sedro Woolley, Washington
United States

See map: Google Maps