Children adopted by Judith Leekin
⬤
public
placement
Four separate NYC agencies: HeartShare Human Service, St. Joseph’s Children’s Services, SCO Family of Services, and New York City Administration for Children’s Services
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.