Barbour children update via new (awesome) adoptive parents

[Stynjen]

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/north ... 1409150154

I hate Judge Manning with the fire of a thousand suns, and since I work about 3 blocks from the the courthouse, am having to squelch my urge to protest his sentence.

On a happier note, it sounds like the kids finally have a shot at the happiness and love they have always deserved.

[Four is Enough]

MISDEMEANOR? THAT BEHAVIOR was a misdemeanor? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? And they asked the judge to let her serve the sentence at home because there's no one to take care of the KIDS? That bitch (and her asshat husband) should NEVER be near kids again, EVER!

[Howl]

MISDEMEANOR? THAT BEHAVIOR was a misdemeanor? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? And they asked the judge to let her serve the sentence at home because there's no one to take care of the KIDS? That bitch (and her asshat husband) should NEVER be near kids again, EVER!

I am still puzzled about the sentences. These children had major physical abuse -- broken bones, fractured skull, brain damage, malnutrition. They were both near death AT THE SAME TIME.

These parents are big time abusers. I can't sort out in my mind if one was calling the shots and the other acquiescing or if they were both crazy.

This so brings to mind the case in Washington state -- two Ethiopian children, fundamentalist adoptive parents,the girl died, the boy survived but with trauma. Hana died from hypothermia and malnutrition. Yup, plumbing line was involved.

Hana's Story

One of the things that Carri Williams did was soak the two adoptive kids sandwiches in water as punishment. It really caught my eye that the boy in this article mentioned having his banana bread soaked in water.

Both Williams are now in prison, where they should be. All eight of their biological children were taken from the home prior to the parents' sentencing.

That the Barbour's children are to be left in the home of two child abusers beggars belief. The two bio kids not showing the outward signs of physical abuse does not mean they aren't abused.

It is truly beautiful that these two abused and traumatized children are now in the home of people who love them and can also help them heal from the effects of trauma.

Yes, Ms. Barbour, you really are the monster people think you are.

[chaotic life]

While the Barbours and their arrogance still make me see red, the parents of those babies made me cry at work. There could not be a better home for those traumatized babies.

[DGayle]

The abuse of children is already treated as no big deal in the US. When it comes to a brown or black kid at the hands of white people, well I guess whities have every right to do whatever to those dirty people, or some bullshit like that. And the less time a kid is a live, the less their lives matter. Look into the case of Briana Lopez, with every trigger warning under the sun, and a warning that you may need therapy after you're done researching that case (I did, in really real life, have to talk to a therapist a few times).

Abusers should have their reproductive organs ripped out without anesthesia, and if they live, never be allowed near a chid every again. Instead having kids is the one inalienable right that even repeat-child-rapists still have in this country, and the right to keep your children is so protected that children are sometimes demoted to inanimate property. Our laws protect animals more than children.

[Letgo]

I don't understand people like the Barbours. I don't mean the abuse, I mean the fact that they went to such lengths to adopt-it was expensive, they had to travel to Ethiopia, it was a two year process. They worked to do this adoption and then physically and emotionally abused and neglected the children? Why? Why go through all the effort of an international adoption and then be so awful? If they children were too much for them to handle, they could have gotten help. They could have "rehomed" them, which is awful, but would have been better than what they did. But why do seemingly normal people (they still have their biological children, I believe) make the effort to adopt and then hurt the children once they bring them home?

[Idolatry]

Why did I read that article. I am so upset now. No bad intent, judge?

[nomoxian]

I read *part* of one article about Briana Lopez (and I second the trigger warning!) How the living hell can someone see that, hear that, know that and not do something to stop it?!! That whole "family" is MESSED and the whole lot of them, grandparents and all, should be put under the jail!

[precious_one]

I think they should have been tried and convicted for attempted murder.

[2xx1xy1JD]

My wish for Kristen Barbour is the same as my wish for the convicted adoptive parents in the Hana Williams case:

Placement in the general prison population, and cell mates who are not white. Give the other prisoners access to newspapers telling the full story of how they treated the children, ideally on a night that inmates are watching "The Help".

How the hell does anyone not see "malice" here? They had food. They were given professional advice to give unfettered access to the food. They deliberately destroyed it and withheld it instead. They instructed others not to feed the boy. They saw that the girl had a problem with her leg. They were told to get medical help immediately. They ignored that advice. These kids had multiple injuries and medical problems caused by abuse and neglect, and it nearly killed them.

[longtimelurker6]

I suspect "Christians" (as opposed to, say, Methodists or Episcopalians) end up with much lighter sentences as a rule. Unfortunately I have no data on this at all. It's just a conclusion I've reached from reading many, many news stories.

Look at all the people who deny their children medical care and then end up getting slapped on the wrists when the kid dies.

(Like the people who wrote "We Let Our Son Die", a particularly annoying book in which the authors stop giving their 11-year old insulin and then pray like mad while he goes into a diabetic coma... then whine because people are mean to them about letting their kid die killing their kid. But they don't serve jail time. Praise the Lord!)

I read "The Child Catchers" by Kathryn Joyce after someone on here recommended it. Joyce doesn't quite say that some of these people have unrecognized but deeply-ingrained racism that affects how they treat their adopted children, but she implies it. The business of the little boy thinking he can't use public bathrooms because he'll give people a disease is just heartbreaking. :(

(Edited to add: I do know that Methodists and Episcopalians are Christians.)

[Terrie]

I don't understand people like the Barbours. I don't mean the abuse, I mean the fact that they went to such lengths to adopt-it was expensive, they had to travel to Ethiopia, it was a two year process. They worked to do this adoption and then physically and emotionally abused and neglected the children? Why? Why go through all the effort of an international adoption and then be so awful? If they children were too much for them to handle, they could have gotten help. They could have "rehomed" them, which is awful, but would have been better than what they did. But why do seemingly normal people (they still have their biological children, I believe) make the effort to adopt and then hurt the children once they bring them home?

Because it's not about the kids. It's about narcissism, plain and simple. They go through all that work, because people will pat them on the back, praise them, tell them they are such saints for going to such lengths to help "poor orphans" (who, statistically, are not likely to have two dead parents, but instead to be victims of poverty).. The problem i that they then have to deal with actual living, breathing children who probably aren't on board with the plan to inflate the egos of the new "mommies" and "daddies."

[Idolatry]

Because it's not about the kids. It's about narcissism, plain and simple. They go through all that work, because people will pat them on the back, praise them, tell them they are such saints for going to such lengths to help "poor orphans" (who, statistically, are not likely to have two dead parents, but instead to be victims of poverty).. The problem i that they then have to deal with actual living, breathing children who probably aren't on board with the plan to inflate the egos of the new "mommies" and "daddies."

Still don't get it. Couldn't you lie and it "fall through"? Much cheaper and safer for everyone.

[SoybeanQueen]

I read "The Child Catchers" by Kathryn Joyce after someone on here recommended it. Joyce doesn't quite say that some of these people have unrecognized but deeply-ingrained racism that affects how they treat their adopted children, but she implies it.

This is also part of the problem with people adopting as a "ministry" and because they need to "save" someone. They don't see the adoptees as their children, but as charity projects. When the child isn't the grateful, picture-perfect addition they hoped for, things go south in a hurry.