Cases

14-year-old boy was adopted from foster care by Donald Shissler with the intent to sexually abuse him. At least two other boys were also abused by Shissler, who made sexual explicit photos and videos of the boys while engaging in sexual activity. Shissler was a former Episcopalian priest, high school teacher, and foster parent.

Concetta and Dennis Charles (a Malta citizen born in Pakistan) purchased babies from poor families in Pakistan to sell to families in Malta under guise of adoption.  Seven people were arrested including Dennis' brother Derrick Charles. Estimates vary between 39 and 100 children.

Dennis had already been arrested in 1997 for smuggling babies.

4 year old girl adopted by John and Sharon Gill was killed by her adoptive mother. She buried the remains and claimed Lillian, who was autistic was sent to Italy for treatment. 2 years later she was arrested for the killing and yet another 2 years later she told police where to find the body.

21-month old boy, adopted from Guatemala by Jeremy and Sarah Allen was shaken to death. Nathaniel had been in the USA 10 months, since April the previous year. Sarah Allen was convicted of manslaughter for shaking Nathaniel. Jeremy Allen was convicted of assult for beating Nathaniel with a wooden spoon two days earlier when he didn't pick up his toys. Allens were considering becoming foster parents for a 2nd child when Nathaniel was killed.

  
Scott and Karen Banks                  Heta Nua's Parents
Prosecutors say recruiters exploited the faith of the Samoan parents -- many of whom are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- and sold adoption as a program that would send youngsters to live with an American Mormon family and get a good education before returning home at 18. The Samoan parents claim they also were promised money, regular letters and photos from the U.S. families. Some were told adoption was like a 'mission' trip.

Adoptive parents were not told of the promises, and were falsely told that the youngsters were orphans or abandoned.  See also individual cases:
Elleia Nyberg (Sei So) case
Fa'anunu Faiupu's children case
J.T. case
Michael Ulisese McKrola (Posi Iva) case
and
Heta Nua's death
and this abuse case which mayt be an FOC placement
Boy adopted by Scott and Catherine Kanani Nelson

Sage was placed into a Ukrainian state orphanage at 5 and adopted at age 7 in 2000 by Stephen Myers, an unmarried teacher then living in Colorado. Two years later, Sage was removed from Myers's home in Massachusetts when allegations surfaced that Stephen Myers had sexually abused other boys, including a 4 year old Romanian boy who was in his home as a foster child in 1995. Many of the reports were in connection with Myers' "Global Youth Academy" or "The Traveling School International" programs. At this time, there are no official reports of Myers sexually abusing Sage. Sage was allegedly physically abused in his birth home and in the orphanage.

In 2005, after 3 years in foster care, Sage was adopted by Dean Christensen and Jane Olingy, a married couple. A psychiatrist diagnosed Sage with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and reactive attachment disorder. While living in a group home in 2011, eighteen-year-old Sage was charged with murder for a stabbing death.

Various adoptee citizenship issues in countries other than USA

4-year old boy adopted by L.B. and Latricia Bars, died of dehydration. He was also starved and had a head injury and a broken collar bone.

Osborne is a North Carolina resident. He began a relationship with Angela Baker, also a North Carolina resident, in November 2000. In December 2000, Baker became pregnant.

During her pregnancy, Osborne and Baker cohabited at Osborne's home in North Carolina. While Baker was living with Osborne, she informed him that she had contacted an adoption agency in Utah to inquire about placing the child for adoption upon its birth. Osborne expressed disapproval with that idea, and as a result, Baker assured Osborne that she would not place the child for adoption.

In early August 2001, Baker left Osborne's home and traveled to Utah with the intent to give birth and to place the child for adoption. On August 6, 2001, labor was induced and Baker delivered the child. That same day, she called Osborne and informed him that she had borne a son, that she had decided not to place the child for adoption in Utah, and that she was returning to North Carolina with the child.

Upon returning to North Carolina, Baker lived with her mother for a week and then moved back in with Osborne. However, by December 10, 2001, she once again moved out of Osborne's home. During this period of cohabitation, Osborne attempted on two occasions to convince Baker to execute a voluntary declaration of paternity. She refused to do so.

In early January 2002, Baker again informed Osborne that she intended to return to Utah and place the child for adoption, which she did. On January 4, 2002, Baker relinquished her parental rights to Adoption Center of Choice, Inc. ("Adoption Center"), a Utah adoption agency with its principal office located in Orem, Utah, so that the child could be placed for adoption. Shortly thereafter, Baker's husband also formally relinquished any parental rights regarding the child and consented to the child's placement for adoption with Adoption Center. Adoption Center then placed the child with a couple but retained legal custody of and responsibility for the child, pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 78-30-4.22 (2002), pending the finalization of the adoption.

On February 11, 2002, Osborne filed a paternity and custody action in North Carolina.

Help a Needy Child International (HANCI), established in 1996, set up child survival centers in Freetown and Makeni (in the north) where it offered services of schooling from kindergarten to tertiary level. When civil war broke out, parents sent their children to the organization for protection and after the war, which ended in 2002, parents who came to fetch their children were told they had been adopted.