I guess I don't get that either. I'm really struggling with that aspect, of scrutinizing every image and reading into it.
The scary thing, to me, is that the pictures and anecdotes could ALL be perfectly innocent and "real", and yet the parents also be abusive. Both truths could exist simultaneously. Child abuse and the relationship between abuser and abusee are complicated. The picture of the kids with the waffles, for example. Some people are commenting and saying, "I bet they didn't even get to eat those waffles!" The thing is, they probably DID eat those waffles. And they probably enjoyed them. And those smiles in the pictures? They could very well be real. And they probably really loved their mothers. But they were probably still afraid of them and were most likely abused. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation. Abuse is complicated, which is why it's often so hard for people to leave. It is possible to have "good" times with your abuser, and that just makes the situation even scarier. If things were bad 24/7 then it would be easy to hate them, but abusers can flip the switch and be loving and caring, too. My mother was abusive; I grew up in a home with a narcissist with borderline personality disorder. I was terrified of her. Almost 40 years later and I am still working through that trauma. But gosh, as traumatic as my childhood was and as awful of a mother she could be, she could also be the most wonderful mother in the world and I all but worshipped her because when she was "good", she was wonderful. If you were to look at my family pictures, you'd see a smiling little girl doing all kinds of fun things. The smiles weren't faked, either. She didn't force me to grin-I smiled because, at that moment, I was genuinely enjoying myself and because I loved her. And then, 20 minutes after the photo was taken, she might hit me or ridicule me or any number of the other things that she enjoyed doing.
These poor children had terrible deaths. They most likely had some terrible things happen to them, both before and after they were adopted. I sincerely hope that they did have true moments of joy in their short lives.