CO CO - Edward, 9, & Austin Bryant, 7, Colorado Springs, 2001-2003

[PoppyH]

http://www.gazette.com/news/boys-114403-child-process.html


"Those who work in child welfare believe nothing could have been done to change the course of events" :banghead:

Of course they would say that!!!!!!!:banghead:

 

[CMac2]

http://www.gazette.com/news/boys-114403-child-process.html


"Those who work in child welfare believe nothing could have been done to change the course of events" :banghead:

1. I keep hearing, over and over again, in cases where children have been missing for extended periods of time prior to it being reported, that the reason their disappearances fell through the cracks was because they were "home schooled". No one outside of the family saw them with any regularity anyway. In essence, they weren't missed. I'm not too familiar with the ins and outs of home schooling, but is there no system in place to track these kids? This has been happening with more and more regularity... to the point that every single time I hear of a child being home schooled, my blood runs cold. It's become a red flag to me- even if the parent is a co-worker or someone I meet in passing. Kids are kids- whether they attend private school, public school or are home schooled. Why is no one checking on them? It makes me crazy. Either there are laws in place requiring parents to report in on the progress their home schooled kids are making- in a concrete, ENFORCEABLE manner- and they are not being enforced, or there are no laws at all. Either is unacceptable. How many times does "home schooling" have to be used as a ruse to abuse/murder children before some genius realizes this needs to be better monitored?!

2. WHY do states compensate parents financially after children have been adopted? I understand that the idea is to give people incentive to do a service to the community by providing a loving home to kids who otherwise wouldn't have one... but like the home schooling ruse, I am constantly hearing of parents who adopt children solely for the checks they get every month. All states don't do this- or at least, haven't always done this. I am from North Carolina originally... my bio mom gave me up for adoption when I was an infant, and I was immediately placed into foster care. When I was 6 years old, I was adopted (by the most awesome and wonderful family on the planet, I have to say). My parents never received a dime for adopting me. They did it because they WANTED me, and were financially able to be a blessing to me. I can only hope I in turn blessed them accordingly. It sounds cold, but I say stop providing monetary payments to adoptive parents- or at least be a little more careful of who we're allowing to take these babies in. There has to be a better way.

Whew. I apologize for the rambling... but as a child who spent her early childhood in foster care (abused), and was eventually adopted, this is an issue very near and dear to my heart. These cases get way too little attention, IMO.

 

[tlcya]

:hug: CMac2

Many of us share your frustration. Welcome to the thread and a belated welcome to websleuths.

 

[TxMomma]

I did some research on what Colorado considers "special needs" to qualify for the subsidy. Although there are the about 8 criteria (and only one has to exist), I was intriqued by one of the criteria: A member of a sibling group of two or more children placed intact in an adoptive placement.
You will recall they adopted 3 brothers all at once, the two missing and the one still in the home.

 

[TxMomma]

Welcome CMac2. I, too, am adopted but at 6 weeks of age. My parents spent a fortune on my adoption as I was from a foreign country. They never received a dime or expected compensation. I'm so sorry that you were in an abusive foster care situation. My heart goes out to you. But I am so happy you found a wonderful family who loves and adores you!

 

[AnnieOakley]

CMAc2,

I totally share your frustration and fears about "home-schooling"... Please understand that I am not advocating taking away the right of parents to truly Home-School their children. My 2 cousins were home-schooled (one is now a minister and one is a psychiatric nurse). I know people who do it very, very well.

HOWEVER-- As someone who works as a school counselor in a public high school, I have, over the years, had a number of students who use "home-schooling" as a way to just drop out. In our state (WA) it is "illegal" to be truant (although it is nearly impossible to get the system to work- PM me if you want my private rant on that! LOL) But, essentially, the parents will sometimes sign-up to "home-school" the child so that they keep the courts off their backs! That way, the kid never has to go to school or do anything and the parent doesn't get in trouble.

In order to home-school, they fill out a form at the school district office- and that's it. THERE ARE NO REGULATIONS, NO CHECK-IN, NO ACCOUNTABILITY. PERIOD. That kid just disappears.

(Excuse this side-bar: if they do happen to return to the public system- guess who is in trouble for the student's lack of success and being 4 grades behind their peers?? End sidebar.)

And, the fact of the matter is, whatever else everyone wants to say that public schools do wrong (and trust me, I hear it allllll the time), we do keep darn good records. I can look at one of my students, even the one who just enrolled who has been at 14 different schools (yep.), and I can show you the entry and withdraw dates from each school (and how much time in between that he didn't attend any school.) But, unless there is someone tracking a kid, my data can't help them.

As a school, we can not access their information without their permission. So, we can't track them. Informally, we schools usually share info with each other so that we can say a kid is officially transferred somewhere- if we know who to ask. (ie: us: Billy said he was coming to XYZ middle school? XYZ- yep, they won't sign paperwork, so we can't send you anything official, but, he's here).

(Do you want to really get upset? The one thing that the government does track about these kids who leave a school and never end up enrolled at a new school? They darn well make sure that the school has to count them as a drop-out. No one tracks what happens to the poor kid, but they make darn sure that we have to count them as a drop-out.)

Sorry for the lengthy reply and if it seems unrelated to these two boys-- but I think it is very related. I think it is. The schools know when kids disappear, so to speak, if we don't receive a request to send records to a new school. If only we had someone to give over that information TO, who could check and see if the kid is ok!

 

[CMac2]

Thanks so much, AnnieOakley!

I agree- your response was extremely important to the subject at hand!
I had a friend as a child whose parents took her and her brother out of the public school and home schooled them. These kids were great people, they just had a difficult time with some of the social challenges in the public school system, but definitely excelled in academics. Both are now very successful, and possess multiple degrees between them (he is an attorney, graduated from Columbia, while she is a physician).

Home schooling seems like it can be the greatest thing for one's children, or the absolute worst, depending on the parents. Again... we're back to parents actually parenting their kids!

Anyway, thanks again!

 

[TxMomma]

I homeschooled my youngest son for a half year when he was in the 5th grade. He had a learning disability that wasn't diagnosed for 2 years even though I begged the school to test him from 3rd grade through 4th grade. I finally took him on my own to Scottish Rite Hospital to be tested. Then armed with their report asked (fought) with the school for half the 5th grade school year to accomodate/remediate the diagnosed disability. I received no cooperation and finally became frustrated enough to homeschool. I filed my notice of Intent and purchased an outstanding cirriculum. It took lots of time and dedication. I educated myself thoroughly on the disability law under Section 504. I re-enrolled him at the beginning of the next school year and meet with the principal and teachers. It was a different school (no longer elementary but middle school) and I went armed with paperwork and knowledge. I could not have asked for better cooperation and he continued in public school until he graduated and entered college. The bottom line is that NO ONE ever checked on him or what was happening in my "homeschool." That needs to change.

 

[kai]

The laws related to homeschooling vary from state to state. Some states are more involved and some have little to no involvement. Here is a link that you can see what states require what.

http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Alright posters. Let's keep the discussion focused on these two kids. If you can relate the homeschooling discussion to their case, please feel free to do so. But let's keep all general off-topic discussion out of their thread. (If you wish to discuss home-schooling in general, there are some threads in our Tots to Teens and Beyond forum here: Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community)

 

[Amster]

With all due respect, I prefer the government NOT "check" on my children. These perps were/are foster parents, accepting taxpayer dollars....fair game for govt. being involved. I don't receive any taxpayer money for my kids, and if I choose to home school, the govt. has no reason to be involved.

 

[krista]

Apologizing in advance for the book:

Please keep in mind that this forum puts us 'in the know' about situations that are very unknown AND unusual in the general public. The world is still incredibly safe, MOST children still play on their cul-de-sac without remote fear, millions of families still keep their doors unlocked without remote concern OR need for concern, and millions of wonderful families foster and adopt children, raising them to be wonderful, loving, idependent, successful adults.
As a foster and adoptive parent, I absolutely hate stories like this for so many reasons. As a mother in general it is absolutely shocking and horrible.
But what is also shocking and horrible are the negative stereotypes and misunderstandings about foster care and adoption. Yes, there are awful caseworkers out there. Yes, there are some people who don't do their job and don't care about doing their job in EVERY workplace......but Most are overworked, underpaid social workers who give everything they have to these children. Yes, there are a handful of nasty, horrible, greedy, self-interested foster and adoptive parents out there who should be punished severely (and more), but the same can be said for natural, biological parents.
99.99% of natural and adoptive and foster parents are doing every single thing right. They just never get attention for it.

Anyway, as for this case:
An earlier story mentioned that this family was getting quite a subsidy for these two boys. While states DO pay subsidies for children, it is always based on need. If the child is relatively healthy, the subsidy would be nonexistant or less than $50 per month. The state expects that you can provide for the child financially, unless the needs of the child are specifically going/expected to cause hardships. Based on their large payout, I would **assume** that both of these boys had specific medical/mental/emotional needs that would make them more difficult placements. While it is true that families who take older children or sibling groups are paid more, the amount that THIS family recieved is so high that it seems VERY unlikely that it was just a standard sibling group placement.
As for why adoptive parents aren't 'checked up on'......for the same reason natural parents aren't checked up on. They are the legal and rightful parents. The government isn't allowed access to children who aren't in state care UNLESS someone has lodged a complaint. Adoptive parents have to go through MONTHS of training, background checks, medical checks, financial checks just to sit on a waiting list. THEN, when a child is finally placed in the home, the state makes monthly visits until the adoption is finalized. Adoption isn't a 'whim' sort of thing one does to earn a little side money or commit fraud. While there clearly ARE some people who choose that route, it's a highly difficult, time consuming process that leaves you, eventually, with children who need constant care. Most adoptive parents desperately want and love and adore their children...just as all parents should.
With these parents ONLY harming two of their adoptive children and (reportedly) treating the others normally, I've got to wonder if there was some sort of psychological breakdown or some situational incident that caused a shift in behavior for the 'parents'.

 

[Amster]

Poor little boys....The Bryants SHOULD have been monitored all these years. Those kids should have been checked on. Naively, I thought when you adopted a child, you were responsible for that child. Mentally, physically....everything! I had no idea money was involved. The Bryants were basically being paid.....with taxpayers money....to adopt these kids. So many things wrong with this I can't even begin to make a list......

I hope LE can figure out where to even begin a search....or, that one of these "unusual people" will turn on the other and tell all. ugh

 

[TxMomma]

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17608449

"According to documents, they claimed that they had eight children living with them — the ages of two of them match the ages the missing children would have been at the time — and that they were receiving $5,486.11 a month in adoption subsidies."

 

[krista]

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/27169616/detail.html

 

[burbqueen]

I know in Texas there are adoption subsidies. My sister got about 500 per kid a month

 

[CMac2]

As others have speculated, I think a lot of answers lie with the children that remain(ed) in the home after these two babies disappeared. Likely they heard/saw whatever was going on prior to their disappearance, experienced certain things themselves, or witnessed what these 2 boys went through. Obviously something terrible has happened, especially with "mom" expressing a desire to cop a plea to manslaughter, but I can't imagine too many details will be forthcoming from her. I'd love to hear what the other siblings have to say.

 

[SuziQ]

I hope coming forward brings some healing to the two brothers who decided to make this public. It is how these cases usually come to light. A sibling grows up and wants some answers. I can't imagine how haunted and tormented the surviving siblings must be. Adam Herrman's case has alot of similarities to this one.

 

[TxMomma]

First district court appearance for both is Thursday, March 17 8:30 am

 

[forthelost]

I think with some of these cases (as well as other cases where I've seen adoptees abused) stem from the fact the adoptive "parents" hear that you can get subsidies for special needs kids you adopt, and see it as easy money. Later on they realize they have to actually raise the kids, and they lash out. Sometimes the kids have what would be trying problems under any circumstance, and some don't. But they're not prepared for a kid, just a paycheck. The idea of "home schooling" appeals to them because then the kid isn't going to have the opportunity to socialize and possibly complain about how they are being treated.