There IS evidence. The biggest evidence is that the state of Texas found it necessary to broaden their search for parents to include out of state placement. The state does not do that willy-nilly!
During the case, the children would have been with whatever foster home(s) would take them. They would have started a search for an adoptive home by the time the parental rights were terminated (though many times, foster families adopt). It would have started in the same region then statewide. They may have tried something like a news segment (forever families, Wednesdays Child, etc). Eventually, they would have opened it up to photolistings like TARE and adoptuskids.org. However, even then, Texas families would have taken priority for a number of reasons.
This was a fairly young sibling set. For the state to have chosen an out of state family, it was because they couldnt find one in Texas. Some being male and black sadly likely contributed to the reasoning; but I almost guarantee these kids had multiple placements, behavior issues, were at risk of being split up even.
And resiliency (as people talk about regarding kids in this situation) is a myth. Kids really ARE harmed by substance exposure, multiple homes, abuse, neglect, etc. There is information out there how a simple investigation causes trauma. Add removal from the home, visitation (and missed visitation), various foster homes (goodness knows what quality), ending visits, etc. Every move sets kids back six months! New schools, monthly visits by agency/caseworker/casa/lawyer, crazy foster care rules, new neighbors/churches/friends. It is all a LOT and every child IS impacted, often greatly.
I dont know how long you have been involved with this population; but I can tell you that Ive lived with a LOT of these kids. It is terribly sad what theyve gone through and will carry with them. Even when they cant consciously remember, their little bodies and brains still respond like they do even when theyve made extreme progress in many ways. So sure they come along in some ways, thrive even in many ways. But they didnt just bounce back and in some ways theyll pay the price for what their original families and CPS has done to them for the rest of their lives.
AGAIN, absolutely NO excuse for abuse by the adoptive family! I am not giving them excuses to have progressively gone down the path of beating, withholding food, and now murder. Sadly, who knows what else JH did. There is NO excuse for any of that.
But I do think, in order to keep these things from happening more (and it happens too often), we need to be honest and upfront about what it is like to parent children from hard places and why. We also need to destigmatize it so when families are in over their heads they can keep seeking out help and actually finding it. We need better support for these children and their parents.
By the end, the family had already pulled in and were likely unreachable. But what if we had caught them early on? Would they have accepted respite, other role models, school, different therapies, etc earlier on if they didnt have to feel threatened?
What if it were safe for families to admit how hard it is, that they werent prepared, that they over-extended, that they are scared, that theyve made mistakes, that they need help, that they really arent saints, that they cant keep putting on this face in public?
Maybe we can save the next adopted child before CPS is called out, before kids are abused, before yet another is killed.