AR - Rep. Harris rehomed his adopted daughter to man who sexually abused her

[daisy7]

Cross Church believes that adoption and orphan care is one of the greatest ministries that God-called couples can provide the local church and local community. Adoption is at the heart of the Gospel message, for through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus we are adopted into the Kingdom of Heaven. Through Jesus we Christians have been adopted as sons and daughters into God's family — thus Christians ought to be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans in North America and around the world.

(snip)

http://crosschurch.com/adoption/

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[stormshine]

After reading the updated Arkansas Times article, my suspicion that his fear of abandonment charges was really a fear of abuse allegations. He knew that asking for help or requesting to give back recently adopted children would bring DHS into his home and would raise questions about what went on there with the girls. That's just my guess, anyway.

 

[ohiogirl]

OMG, those poor girls! This family is bizarre. It just keeps getting worse and worse. He really needs to give it up and go hide in a hole somewhere. It is not ever going to be okay, what they did. If I was a parent at that preschool I would definitely find somewhere else for my child to go. This family really should not be allowed to supervise children.

 

[Margo/Mom]

I agree that all is not easy but is doable and part of the commitment of parenting. If one of these kids were dx'ed with cancer, should they be given back? Would they dump their bio kids? No, right. You make it work and tackle it. The Harris family has not said that they exhausted every resource. In six months, I am dubious that they even used some of the resources readily available. I don't have facts to back that up though. But, if the reports are true that they pushed this thing through, then it is not a surprise that the parenting plan lasted six months because they liked the idea of saving these kids and never made a plan for it.

NACAC has always been a ready resource and has not indicated to me that resources are difficult to attain. I recognize the cost of good psych and services care.

I just did my taxes and I can say that our family paid more than 20k out of pocket for services for two kids last year. It inhibits savings, retirement, college funds, tithing, vacations and many extras.

As an adoptive parent, I have had to do battle for resources multiple times. I have been to NACAC sponsored workshops on what resources are SUPPOSED to be available--because local entities frequently neglect to inform families, or sometimes even workers, of what is supposed to be possible. In my state considerable authority exists at the local level, and because I adopted out-of-county, I was faced with the county that I lived in being unwilling to respond with services (not THEIR kid) that were more readily available to kids adopted in-county. The county of origination had a very different tax base and was therefore willing to provide ONLY those things fully funded by federal subsidy (without match). A portion of adoption support comes in the form of eligibility (as a family of one, no income) for Title XX services. The use of Title XX dollars is determined generally at the state level and cover a wide-range of social services. Midway through my kids growing up the state emphasis moved from services to families and kids to the elderly. Oh, well. Further, some county workers--through either resentment or ignorance--liked to turn families down as being over income.

I throw all this in, again, not to defend Harris--because you are right, he didn't even get his feet wet in looking for solutions--but because I fear that this case may encourage an ignorant public to believe that everything is hunky-dory in adoption land for those willing to be committed and follow the rules. Mental health access for all children (with adopted kids frequently having a higher need) remains an issue we need to address.

 

[Margo/Mom]

BBM. Absolutely true whether the child is biological or adopted. There is no shortage of services. Harris didn't adopt the children out of any act of compassion and care, he obviously adopted them for the revenue stream. Every time he opens his mouth, his aura of creepiness expands.

JMO

That revenue stream is only profitable if you have kids who don't eat or wear clothes.

 

[stormshine]

That revenue stream is only profitable if you have kids who don't eat or wear clothes.

Yeah, I think the adoption was about his ego and his image more than the revenue stream.

 

[MyBelle]

That revenue stream is only profitable if you have kids who don't eat or wear clothes.

Pretty profitable if you hand the kids over to strangers and keep the money for yourself. I also have no doubt he enrolled them in his "school."

 

[Margo/Mom]

This story will refer to the three girls taken in by the Harrises by pseudonyms: We will call the oldest sister Jeannette, the middle sister Mary and the youngest sister Annie. When they began living with the Harrises in 2012, Jeannette was around 6, Mary was 4 and Annie was around 2.

[...]

Chelsey Goldsborough, who regularly babysat for the Harrises, said Mary was kept isolated from Annie and from the rest of the family. She was often confined for hours to her room, where she was monitored by a video camera. The reason: The Harrises believed the girls were possessed by demons and could communicate telepathically, Goldsborough said. Harris and his wife once hired specialists to perform an "exorcism" on the two sisters while she waited outside the house with the boys, she said.

[...]

According to Goldsborough, the two girls were kept in separate rooms that were outfitted with locks, alarms and video cameras. They were not allowed to be around each other because of the Harrises' belief in demonic possession and telepathy, she said.

[...]

Goldsborough said the "exorcism" was performed by specialists from Alabama who came to the house to orchestrate the event. Other sources confirmed to the Times that Marsha Harris told them at least one "exorcism" was performed on the girls.

[...]

However, a source familiar with the workings of state-level DHS informed the Times that Blucker supposedly remarked in 2012 that "Harris threatened to hold up the budget for the division if he didn't get to adopt those girls."​

link

I just read the whole article, and it is heartbreaking.

 

[Margo/Mom]

The aspect of the case that is the most chilling to me was his claim regarding their behaviors when they were adopted into his home. Based on his own timeline, clearly something changed and it wasnt for the better. There is no discussion regarding the substantial period of time prior to his adopting them. Not that I can remember reading. There is nothing I recall reading that indicated these girls were behavior problems prior to his adoption of them. And yet the minute the door was closed things escalated to a point that after he parented them for 6 months they had to be given away.

It is chilling to me. We can see why the 6 year old was revictimized by Francis...she was an easy target. I hope every record is being analyzed and re analyzed to see if something was missed. This is just a gut reaction, but we have seen a predator defensively position a child/victim as being untrustworthy because of mental illness. IE: incapable of truth telling.

There is a lot coming from Harris that makes no sense. Another lot of stuff makes little sense, but is still typical of pre-adoption denial in many families. Most, however cannot threated to hold up the DHS budget if they are not allowed to adopt some specific kids.

But, the one thing that has always fit for me--whether it actually happened this way or whether it was something that he read about in a book and used as an excuse--was an immediate behavior change once the adoption is finalized. I just know a lot of people who have experienced this. While the adoptive parents are ready to heave a sigh of relief that they are finally past all the legal hurdles and can begin being just a family, the adopted kid may have a completely different experience. They may feel suddenly disloyal to their family of origin. They may suddenly be faced with an internal belief that they made their bio family fall apart. They may be angry that the bio family is forever lost to them. They may finally feel safe enough to express feelings that they have been holding onto for fear of losing yet another family.

Life is not simple, and the truth may be something like all of the above, complicated by the Harrises doing lots of things wrong in response (like isolating the sisters, attempting to exorcise demons, and the like).

 

[Margo/Mom]

Immediately, aspects of this case remind me of that of murdered 4 year old Andrew Burd in Texas. His mother, Hannah Overton, was convicted of his murder and serving a life sentence, but recently was granted a new trial. Andrew was a "foster to adopt" 4 year old, and they already had 5 young bio kids at home. Evangelical Christian family (HO's father, a pastor, was convicted of brutally murdering a 16 year old, and her grandfather was the Heaven's Gate cult leader.) Andrew had numerous serious emotional problems. He was confined to his room often, toys removed, video camera in place. At the time of his death he was sleeping on bare plywood.

Spiritual abuse--sometimes underlying physical abuse or deprivation (a la Hal Stanley and corporal punishment or Andrew Burd), sometimes entangled with sexual abuse (a la Warren Jeffs, Catholic priest scandal, Gothard), and sometimes just out there on its own.

Apparently the role of religious beliefs in abuse of children is pretty much neglected in research. Been reading about it. I recommend Breaking Their Will by Janet Heimlich.

 

[RazTaz]

@DrewPetrimoulx: House minority leader wants colleagues to "think heavily" about urging Rep. Justin Harris to resign. #ARnews #arleg

@DrewPetrimoulx: If allegations made in @ArkTimes story are true, House minority leader Armstrong says Harris is not fit hold office. #arleg

Drew is a reporter at KARK, who retweeted the above.

 

[believe09]

I throw all this in, again, not to defend Harris--because you are right, he didn't even get his feet wet in looking for solutions--but because I fear that this case may encourage an ignorant public to believe that everything is hunky-dory in adoption land for those willing to be committed and follow the rules. Mental health access for all children (with adopted kids frequently having a higher need) remains an issue we need to address.

Respectfully snipped. I dont think the public is going to believe for an instant that all is well. I applaud all of the advocating that you do for yours!! This is a situation of a lawmaker who influenced pedaled and bypassed standards to bring children into his home that should never have been there. He doesnt get to turn around and blame it on DHS when he used them to gain access to three tortured children who needed to be rescued in every sense of the word.

That is a completely separate issue from the average member of the public who opens their homes and hearts to children either as foster or adoptive parents. People who have to fight within the rules to get what they need so that these children thrive. The journalist that started it all mentioned that they reason they went into such depth was because they heard from many many parents who had stories about how they were failed by DHS.

This guy had access to their purse strings and their top brass. He didnt receive bad or incomplete information. He didnt lack in support. He proceeded in secret with his own dark agenda and when he made the children worse, he threw them away and subjected them to a pedophile. And now he blames everyone but himself.

He should be thrown out of office and compelled to provide financial security to all three children for the rest of their lives. imvho.

 

[believe09]

@DrewPetrimoulx: House minority leader wants colleagues to "think heavily" about urging Rep. Justin Harris to resign. #ARnews #arleg

@DrewPetrimoulx: If allegations made in @ArkTimes story are true, House minority leader Armstrong says Harris is not fit hold office. #arleg

Drew is a reporter at KARK, who retweeted the above.

*if* He made the rope being used to string him up himself. With his very own words.

 

[shadowraiths]

State Rep. Eddie Armstrong of North Little Rock, leader of the Democratic minority in the House, held a news conference today to talk about his meetings with Department of Human Services officials about Rep. Justin Harris' dealing with the agency in his now-controversial adoption of children.

[...]

Armstrong said his concerns about DHS included a staff that might be overworked. But he said the agency might need an overhaul to prevent such cases from occurring. He said Harris didn't attend a committee meeting this morning where reporters were on hand to ask Harris questions.

[...]

Hardy's reporting has touched on: 1) Rehoming, a controversial practice currently unregulated in Arkansas which a family can turn children over to another for adoption with little review process outside court approval, even children first adopted from the state following a lengthy review; 2) Harris' pressure on DHS officials to complete the adoption; 3) resistance to the adoption by some DHS workers on account of the girls' difficult history; 4) accounts from people close to the Harrises that they believed the girls were possessed by demons and the unusual ways they treated the children as a result (an account the Harris' lawyer has disputed); 5) Harris continued postion of authority on a legislative committee that controls child welfare legislation and reports that he held up a DHS budget while pressuring to get the adoption approved; 6) the review of his pre-school, Growing God's Kingdom after Eric Francis, the school's former head teacher, was arrested for molestation; 7) DHS' knowledge in the home situation of Harris' adopted children before a complaint was made to an abuse hotline.

[...]

Governor says it wouldn't be prudent to jump to conclusions about the Harris matter. Indeed not. But it might be a time to talk about ending the enormous conflict of interest presented by Harris presiding over a committee that handles children's issues when he stands accused of applying pressure of his office to get an adoption opposed by case workers and, since, of accusing DHS of various sorts of wrongdoing in his own personal case.

[...]

UPDATE FROM LESLIE PEACOCK AT THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE:

Asa says he is focusing on child welfare part of Harris story and does not plan to talk to Harris. He said if the state had the money it would be good to have oversight of DHS in form of inspector general but would need subpoena power. He kept referring to a DHS situation that had been dropped in his lap.​

link

 

[shadowraiths]

Through their attorney, Jennifer Wells, the Harrises completely denied all talk of demonic possession, because of course it sounds more than a little bit nutty. Wells released a statement reading,

“Exorcisms and telepathy are not part of the Harrises’ religious practice. They followed the techniques in a book called When Love Is Not Enough, a Parent’s Guide to Reactive Attachment Disorder by Nancy Thomas, who is a recognized expert on therapeutic parenting techniques.”​

Amazon reviews of Thomas’s book detail some of her therapeutic advice:

“In the beginning, rewards and bonuses should be food, clothing or necessities.”

“In the beginning, your child should learn to ask for everything. They must ask to go to the bathroom, to get a drink of water, EVERYTHING. When it starts to feel like they must ask to breathe, you are on the right track.”

“The alarm on the bedroom door establishes a very clear physical limit for the child. When the alarm is working, day or night, the child can be controlled by being placed in the bedroom … There needs to be a very substantial consequence for opening the door after being told not to. In my house, for children over 5, it is 100 to 500 (depending on their age) pushups interspersed throughout the day for a number of days and no privileges until they are complete.”​

​

link

Who is Nancy Thomas & what are her credentials? link

 

[stormshine]

Well, it does sound like they were following her advice.

 

[shadowraiths]

Report of the APSAC Task Force on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attachment Disorder, and Attachment Problems

Although the term attachment disorder is ambiguous, at- tachment therapies are increasingly used with children who are maltreated, particularly those in foster care or adoptive homes. Some children described as having attachment disor- ders show extreme disturbances. The needs of these children and their caretakers are real. How to meet their needs is less clear. A number of attachment-based treatment and parent- ing approaches purport to help children described as attach- ment disordered. Attachment therapy is a young and diverse field, and the benefits and risks of many treatments remain scientifically undetermined. Controversies have arisen about potentially harmful attachment therapy techniques used by a subset of attachment therapists. In this report, the Task Force reviews the controversy and makes recommendations for as- sessment, treatment, and practices. The report reflects Ameri- can Professional Society on the Abuse of Children’s (APSAC) position and also was endorsed by the American Psychologi- cal Association’s Division 37 and the Division 37 Section on Child Maltreatment.
​

PDF

 

[daisy7]

Through their attorney, Jennifer Wells, the Harrises completely denied all talk of demonic possession, because of course it sounds more than a little bit nutty. Wells released a statement reading,

“Exorcisms and telepathy are not part of the Harrises’ religious practice. They followed the techniques in a book called When Love Is Not Enough, a Parent’s Guide to Reactive Attachment Disorder by Nancy Thomas, who is a recognized expert on therapeutic parenting techniques.”​

Amazon reviews of Thomas’s book detail some of her therapeutic advice:

“In the beginning, rewards and bonuses should be food, clothing or necessities.”

“In the beginning, your child should learn to ask for everything. They must ask to go to the bathroom, to get a drink of water, EVERYTHING. When it starts to feel like they must ask to breathe, you are on the right track.”

“The alarm on the bedroom door establishes a very clear physical limit for the child. When the alarm is working, day or night, the child can be controlled by being placed in the bedroom … There needs to be a very substantial consequence for opening the door after being told not to. In my house, for children over 5, it is 100 to 500 (depending on their age) pushups interspersed throughout the day for a number of days and no privileges until they are complete.”​

​

link

Who is Nancy Thomas & what are her credentials? link

I read the Wonkette article earlier and this part made me LOL

Apart from the demons that were invisible to everyone but the Harrises, Mary did not apparently manifest any of the classic symptoms of possession such as levitation, speaking in an electronically altered voice, rotating her head 360 degrees, or voting a straight Democratic ticket.

Read more at http://wonkette.com/579216/ark-rep-...homing-them-with-a-rapist#5tFReEZTVkxmku1Q.99

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[kaen]

Nancy Thomas' work is controversial as is Foster Cline (Love and Logic). Both have worked with children with incredible needs. I am appalled that the Harris family would utilize strategies that are meant for older children who have significant issues. I don't think any of the Harris children have been dx'ed with RAD.

On another note, the Harris family needs a new lawyer. If she thinks that a book is going to get them off the hook ----a book spouting that a child needs to almost ask to breathe as part of their family integration--- and lessen the outrage, she should have read the book. IT is one scary methodology to think it had been used on children who were not diagnosed with RAD.

 

[K_Z]

Nancy Thomas is a quack. She has absolutely no academic credentials of any kind, no psychology or counseling background. She has a bunch of titles she "made up" for herself, and likes to portray herself as a "co-therapist" or a "lay therapist". I think I read she started out grooming or training dogs or something. At best, she could be considered a therapeutic foster parent, with "anecdotal experience." She is a proponent of absolute control, isolation, humiliation, and deprivation. Her techniques are abusive, IMO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy

*The wiki entry is quite good; I recommend reading the whole entry to get a good sense of what attachment therapy is about. Nancy Thomas is mentioned in this entry.

The controversy, as outlined in the 2006 American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) Task Force Report,[8] has broadly centered around "holding therapy"[10] and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures. These include deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring normal social relationships outside the primary caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge. Variants of these treatments have carried various labels that change frequently. They may be known as "rebirthing therapy", "compression therapy", "corrective attachment therapy", "the Evergreen model", "holding time", "rage-reduction therapy"[1] or "prolonged parent-child embrace therapy".[11] Some authors critical of this therapeutic approach have used the term Coercive Restraint Therapy.[12] It is this form of treatment for attachment difficulties or disorders which is popularly known as "attachment therapy".[1] Advocates for Children in Therapy, a group that campaigns against attachment therapy, give a list of therapies they state are attachment therapy by another name.[13] They also provide a list of additional therapies used by attachment therapists which they consider to be unvalidated.[14]

But desperate people flock to her with unmanageable situations-- just like desperate parents of autistic kids are willing to give them bleach enemas touted by MMS quack Jim Humble, despite strident FDA warnings.