5 year old girl adopted by Gerald and Angela Thompson. She was murdered by Angela Thompson who forced an older sibling to sit on her hunched back for more than three hours, squeezing the life out of her. Angela Thompson was convicted for the abuse of two other children she had adopted. In total the Thompsons adopted 11 children. Thompson told a co-worker "spare the rod, spoil the child". Siblings of Rachel later pressed charges against the adoption agency, which was placed on probation and its founder Audrey Foster has been permanently barred from serving as executive director at any of the agency's five branches around the state. The agency is now run by her daughter Alison Foster. Angela Thompson serves life in prison.

5 year old Vietnamese boy, adopted by Jessica Vitale-Elgie and William Elgie, died 10 hours after ingesting a detergent/bleach solution from a bucket soaking his recently soiled underclothes. CJ was developementally delayed and weighed 30lbs. Ms Vitale-Elgie admitted she was disciplining the boy and let him suffer for hours prior to taking him to the hospital.

The Elgie's had a 6 yr girl from Korea and twin infant bio sons at the time of CJ's death. Ms Elgie had sought various therapies including attachment therapy for CJ.

Vitale-Elgie pleaded guilty in December 2002 to negligent homicide but later withdrew the plea when faced with a state prison term. In 2004, she was convicted of misdemeanor child endangerment. William Elgie was never charged. Both he and his now ex-wife were ruled neglectful parents during Family Court proceedings.

At the time of the adoptive mother's conviction, she was on a paid leave from her job as a special-education teacher in the Buffalo (NY) school system.

Candace Elizabeth Newmaker (19 November 1989 — 18 April 2000) was a victim of child abuse, killed during a 70-minute treatment session supposedly to treat reactive attachment disorder. The form of diagnosis and the treatments used were unvalidated and non-mainstrean methods practised within the field of attachment therapy.