exposing the dark side of adoption
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abuse case
The assumption behind child-placement is that the safety and living conditions of a child improve. These cases demonstrate that this assumption is often invalid.
child trafficking case
There is often a fine line between adoption and child trafficking. In many cases this line is being crossed.
coerced adoption case
Adoption is assumed to be the result of a choice made by the parents of the child. These cases demonstrate women are pressured to give up their children.
deportation case
Adoptions before 1997, didn't automatically lead to naturalization. As result, people adopted from outside the outside US that ran into problems with the justice system face deportation to their country of birth.
disrupted placement case
Although the adoptive family is called the "forever family" by the adoption industry, adoptions can end in disruption. These cases demonstrate that the "forever family" is sometimes only temporary
father's rights violation case
Adoption requires the consent of both biological parents. These cases demonstrate that the rights of fathers in adoption cases are being violated.
wrongful medication case
Children in foster care can have serious mental health issues. Too often these children are given large doses of psychotropic medications, just to keep them quiet.
wrongful removal case
The removal of children from their family's should always be a last resort. These cases demonstrate that Child Protective Services sometimes remove children for all the wrong reasons

Yana and Anatoli Kolenda

⬤ public
abuse case
2002 Oct 21

 

Two 11-year-olds, adopted at age 7 in Russia, by Richard and Gienia Kolenda, died in 2002--nearly five years after their arrival in America. Their adoptive father stabbed them and his wife to death at their home in Westfield, Mass., then fatally shot himself. The Kolenda's were both Polish immigrants, and had financial troubles.

abused adoptees, international adoption, physical abuse, murder-suicide, familicide, lethal abuse
Russian Federation
Massachusetts (state of the USA)
Westfield - MA

Sacha Vallée

⬤ public
abuse case
2002 Oct 9


4-years-old boy adopted by Marie-Claude Vallée, was beaten to death by his adoptive mother’s boyfriend, Éric Grenier. The corpse of the child was covered with 72 bruises. October 21, 2004, Grenier was found guilty of non-premeditated homicide.

Sacha was born in Russia in 1998. He had spent the first year of his life in a Siberian prison where his mother was imprisoned and where she died; the orphanage where he was transferred put him up for adoption. In August 2001, he was placed with Marie-Claude Vallée.
abused adoptees, international adoption, physical abuse, abuse by significant other, live-in partner, lethal abuse
Russian Federation
Quebec

Christopher Clancy

⬤ public
deportation case
2002 Oct 4

Walter and Jean Clancy adopted Christopher in 1982 from Mexico.

Jean Clancy claims she took Christopher to the INS office in 1986 to fill out the paperwork making him a U.S. citizen. While completing the form, she says, a supervisor told them that Christopher was already a citizen.

Jean Clancy says the paperwork she had already filled out was kept at the office. The INS says it has no evidence of the visit.

In 2000 Christopher was convicted on three burglary charges and sentenced to five years.

The INS decided Christopher Clancy is not a U.S. citizen. So after he did his time, he was transferred to a federal detention center to await deportation.

Status: Unknown


adoptee deportation
Mexico
Texas (state of the USA)

Children adopted by Theresa and Reed Hansen

⬤ public
abuse case
2002 Oct 2
Theresa and Reed Hansen, of Saratoga Springs, Utah had been accused of felony and misdemeanor charges for withholding food, sometimes for days at a time, from two of their three children adopted from Russia, who were of pre-school age at the time. The abused boy and girl were bio siblings adopted 2 years after the first. All three adoptees were removed from the home in 2002 and have reportedly thrived since in new adoptive homes.
abused adoptees, international adoption, physical abuse, fundamental faith, discipline, food deprivation, forced confinement, stick
Russian Federation
Utah (state of the USA)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Nancy Thomas
Saratoga Springs - UT

Boy and girl adopted by Maureen and Michael Culhane

⬤ public
abuse case
2002 Oct 1
3 and 5 year old learning disabled children adopted in 2001 from Latvia were locked in a room by themselves for 4 hours while the Irish-born immigrant parents went shopping. The home was filthy and determined to be uninhabitable. Both parents were convicted.
The parents had a criminal record from 2000 for locking an 87 year old woman in a home.
abused adoptees, international adoption, forced confinement
Latvia
New Jersey (state of the USA)
Montvale - NJ

Kelsey Hyre

⬤ public
abuse case
2002 Sep 26
Twenty six month old Kelsey Hyre was permanently paralyzed September 26, 2002. Kelsey and her brother Nathan were adopted from Amur Russia, probably Blagoveshchensk, 8 months earlier when they were 18 and 22 months old. Her spine was severed after her adoptive father Gerald Hyre slammed her on the floor. Adoptive mother, Bonnie Hyre, who was at work at the time, took her to hospital when she came home. Ms. Hyre had previously suspected her husband of abusing both Kelsey and her adoptive brother Nathan, 3, and had taken photos of other injuries, discussed suspicions with co-workers, but after husband's arrest she destroyed pictures and did nothing.

Gerald Hyre was sentenced to 16 years for felonious assault and child abuse. Bonnie Hyre was sentenced to 2 years for permitting child abuse and evidence tampering and served 10 months. Kelsey has been adopted by another couple and is reportedly responding well. Nathan was placed temporarily with Bonnie Hyre's mother, but now Bonnie has custody.
abused adoptees, international adoption, physical abuse
Russian Federation
Amur Oblast, Ohio (state of the USA)
Akron - OH

Zachary Higier (Nikita Khoryakov)

⬤ public
abuse case
2002 Aug 15
2-year-old boy adpted from Orenburg Russia, died of severe head trauma. Adoptive mother Natalia Higier, stated that he had fallen out of his crib or hit his head on the floor. She later admitted to tossing him into the air and he hit his head on the coffee table. Zachary sustained a bilateral skull fracture, strokes, brain swelling, and detached retinas. Natalia pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail with 18 months balance of sentence suspended for 4 years.

The agency failed to note that Natalia Higier, a Latvian native, took out a restraining order against her husband in 1995, but dropped it a day later. Her husband, Louis, had also taken out a restraining order against his wife in the past.
abused adoptees, international adoption, physical abuse, abusive head trauma (AHT), lethal abuse
Russian Federation
Orenburg Oblast, Massachusetts (state of the USA)
Frank Adoption Center
Braintree - MA

Girls adopted by Henrique Cruz

⬤ public
abuse case
2002 Jun 16
Four girls adopted by Henrique Cruz, were sexually abused for more than six years by their adoptive father.

Henrique Cruz was sentence to 40 years in prison.
abused adoptees, Sexual abuse
Texas (state of the USA)
Lubbock - TX

Esther Scudder

⬤ public
abuse case
2002 Jun 13
22-month-old girl from Hunan Province, China, adopted by Sandra Scudder, died of died of brain hemorrhaging due to blunt trauma to the head. Sandra Scudder died of ovarian cancer before she could go to trial.
abused adoptees, international adoption, physical abuse, single-mothers, abusive head trauma (AHT), lethal abuse
China
Hunan, Illinois (state of the USA)
Loves Park - IL

Cassandra Killpack (Autumn Blackwell)

⬤ public
abuse case
2002 Jun 1

 

Four-year-old Cassandra adopted by Jennette and Richard Killpack died after they forced her to drink a gallon of water, which caused her brain to swell.

The Killpacks maintained it was a form of therapy to help Cassandra with her emotional problems that she had from being abused before they adopted her.

abused adoptees, attachment therapy, torture, fundamental faith, discipline, domestic private adoption, forced water ingestion, lethal abuse, restraints
Utah (state of the USA)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Nancy Thomas
Springville - UT
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