Alexis Nicole Long, 19 month old girl died of blunt force trauma after apparently being thrown onto a changing table by her adoptive mother Jennifer Long. Mrs. Long was charged with murder. Father Timothy Long was charged with second degree cruelty to children.

A girl, removed from a polygamous clan in Utah, was placed for adoption with a couple who moved from Utah to Snohomish, WA. The girl was subsequently sexually abused by her adoptive father. A female Bothell, WA therapist had advised the adoptive couple to start sleeping with the girl.

11-year-old Lucretia and 12-year-old Sabrina, both orphans, adopted by philanthropist Thomas Day, were "trained-up" to become his wife.   Soon after he acquired the girls, he changed the girls’ names and moved to France with the purpose of isolating them from other English speakers and keeping them free from other influence.  Thomas Day quickly abandoned Lucretia because he found her to be "perfectly stupid". Sabrina was kept longer.  In an attempt to make her strong, Day tortured her physically by dripping hot wax on her back and arms while insisting she not scream in pain. Eventually he abandoned Sabrina too.

Some of nine boys adopted by George Harasz and Doug Wirth were allegedly abused by their adoptive fathers.

In September 2014, Wirth was found not guilty.

In October 2014, all charges against George Harasz were dismissed.

Three girls (age 15, 13 and 6) and two boys (age 7 and 9) adopted by Carol J. Schmidt, were physically abused by their adoptive mother. The abuse consisted mostly of cruel and unusual punishment.

Rolin Allison Jr. sexually abused four younger adopted siblings in his parent's home over a 13 year period. Rolin Allison (believed to be a bio son of the adoptive parents), was in his 20's at the time, his abuse victims were both girls and boys ages 4 to 16.

Allison was sentenced to 25 years.

7 year old girl adopted from China 5 years earlier was strangled by her adoptive mother. Kathrine Dufresne, aka Kathy Fitzpatrick, had self inflicted wounds when the 2 were discovered by the father (apparent failed murder-suicide). Dufresne was charged with murder but committed suicide in custody prior to the trial.

16-year-old twin boy and girl adopted at age 2 from The Philippines by Sandra Weller  had food systematically withheld and were physically abused by Sandra and stepfather, Jeffrey Weller. Sandra's first husband Tim Graf is their legal father.

A 15-year-old boy, a 14-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, adopted by Aubrey and Laura Thomas were paddled regularly, forced to eat horse manure, forced to perform sex acts, fed bar soap and cayenne pepper and forced to vomit food and eat it off the floor.

The Thomases became foster parents to six children in 2001. In 2003, two of the children were removed because they had been abused.

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".