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Abused adoptees How safe is the pre-screened adoptive home?
Child trafficking How factual are an adoptee's documents?
Re-homing How permanent is the forever-home?
Adoption system Whose interest is adoption actually serving?
Inspired by stories shared by birth parents, adoptive parents, and adult adoptees, PPL explores
the dark side of adoption, and the consequences illegal and unethical actions have on future
family-life and the well-being of those affected by adoption.
Too many children are placed for the benefit of agencies and based on the demands of
prospective adoptive parents.
Too many children are placed in inappropriate homes because the business interests of adoption
agencies have higher priority than the safety of children.
PPL documents and archives cases where the child placement system did not work in the best
interest of the child and we offer a platform for those who want to express their thoughts and
feelings about the dark side of child adoption.
Case news
Most recent articles added to the case archives
Authorities search Overland Park house in Edgar
investigation
Date: 2003-01-03
Authorities search Overland Park house in Edgar investigation
The Kansas City Star/January 3, 2003
By Richard Espinoza
Police investigating the death of 9-year-old Brian Edgar searched for evidence today in an
Overland Park house that his family had rented.
Detectives wouldn't say what they were looking for, but officers from Overland Park and
Wyandotte County and the Johnson County crime lab spent hours inside.
Brian's adoptive parents, Neil and Christy Edgar, face first-degree murder charges and charges of
abusing their three other children. Chasity L. Boyd, an acquaintance of the Edgars, also has been
charged with first-degree murder.
The Edgars run God's Creation Outreach Ministry, 817 Central Ave. in Kansas City, Kan. Boyd
may have been their baby sitter, authorities have said.
People who knew the Edgars in the Overland Park neighborhood were surprised to hear about
the allegations because they remembered the Edgars as quiet people who seemed to have happy
children.
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730 reads
Church leaders make court appearance in child-abuse
murder case
Date: 2003-01-02
Church leaders make court appearance in child-abuse murder case
Two church leaders who are charged with killing their 9-year-old son made their first court
appearance this afternoon.
The Kansas City Star/January 2, 2003
By Robert A. Cronkleton
Neil and Christy Edgar, pastors of God's Creation Outreach Ministry, a Kansas City, Kan.,
church, are in jail and charged with first-degree murder in Brian's death. The Edgars also face
felony child-abuse charges involving three other children -- boys 16 and 12, and a 9-year-old
girl.
All four were adopted. The three who now are in protective custody are siblings. Brian, who was
adopted in June 2000, was not related to them.
During her court appearance, 46-year-old Christy Edgar looked down and did not make eye
contact with dozens of supporters in the Wyandotte County courtroom. Handcuffed to another
prisoner, she wiped tears from her face several times.
Meanwhile, 47-year-old Neil Edgar was kept separate from other defendants who were making
their first appearances on unrelated charges.
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687 reads
KCK church members support parents charged in boy's
death
Date: 2003-01-02
Jefferson City News-Tribune (MO)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- A congregation whose two leaders are charged with killing their
son said the church is not a cult and doesn't believe in "tough love."
Church leaders also used a prayer vigil and press conference Wednesday to urge the public and
media to presume Neil Edgar, 47, and his wife Christy, 46, innocent until proven guilty of the
charges against them.
The Edgars, of Kansas City, Kan., were charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the child
abuse death of their 9-year-old adopted son, Brian Edgar. The couple also was charged with
three counts of child abuse in connection with the treatment of their three other adopted children,
ages 16, 12 and 9.
Between 40 and 50 people prayed during a vigil on the steps of the Wyandotte County
courthouse that their leaders would know that the church supports them.
The crowd included about two dozen members of God's Creation Outreach Ministry in Kansas
City, Kan., where the Edgars are pastors. The church is affiliated with the Church of God in
Christ, which is Pentecostal in nature.
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623 reads
Church leaders charged in death; Abuse killed son,
prosecutors think
Date: 2003-01-01
Kansas City Star, The (MO)
Author: MARK WIEBE
DONNA McGUIRE; The Kansas City Star
The leaders of a Kansas City, Kan., storefront church were charged Tuesday with murdering
their adopted 9-year-old son and with abusing three other adopted children.
On Tuesday, the pastors of God's Creation Outreach Ministry, Neil E. Edgar, 47, and Christy Y.
Edgar, 46, were charged with the felony murder of Brian Edgar.
The Edgars also were charged with three counts each of felony child abuse involving the other
three children, who are siblings. Brian was not related to them by blood.
The parents were in jail Tuesday; bond was set at $2 million each.
At a news conference, Wyandotte County District Attorney Nick Tomasic alleged that Brian and
his siblings - boys 16 and 12 and a 9-year-old girl - were frequent victims of abuse that involved
binding and gagging before bedtime. Authorities said the three children were in protective
custody.
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620 reads
Adoptee Faces Deportation From Misprinted Birth
Certificate
Date: 2003-01-01
Adoptee Faces Deportation From Misprinted Birth Certificate
A side effect of a 1996 immigration law has some adoptees facing deportation. KoreAm
Journal chronicles the story of Aaron Billings, 27 who is facing possible deportation to South
Korea.
Lowell and Bonnie Billings adopted Aaron from Korea when he was 3 years old. At that time, a
misprinted birth certificate sent from the adoption agency led them to believe that Aaron’s alien
status had been changed to that of a U.S. citizen, and so they never pursued the naturalization
process for him as adoptive parents are required to do. But in April 2001, Aaron was picked up
for selling marijuana, and the INS identified him as an illegal alien. Because of the 1996 Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which imposed harsh regulations on
non-citizens who commit crimes, even misdemeanors, Billings ended up detained in San Diego
and facing deportation.
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766 reads
Adoption Stories : The Nelson Family
Date: 2003-01-01
"Scott and Kanani adopt two siblings from Samoa"
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534 reads
Boston globe: In Memoriam - 2002 murders
Date: 2002-12-31
Boston Globe, The (MA)
IN MEMORIAM
THIS YEAR, 20 names are on the list of people who died in Massachusetts as a result of
domestic violence. The annual list is compiled by two local nonprofit organizations, Peace at
Home and Jane Doe Inc. There are more names than there were last year but fewer than in
previous years. A sad theme persists: There seemed to be no way out. The victims could not
escape murderous partners, and the partners failed to find alternatives to violence.
Parents warn children about strangers. But in these cases danger lurked at home - on the
supposedly safe side of the locked door. In an annual commemoration, we acknowledge the
women, men, and children who were lost.
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448 reads
Italian woman guilty of adoption bribery
Date: 2002-12-31
AP in Moscow
An Italian woman was given a seven-year suspended jail sentence by a Russian court yesterday
after being convicted of bribing officials and forging documents to ease the adoption of Russian
children by Italian families.
Nadezhda Fratti, of the Italian adoption agency Arcobaleno, was arrested last year in the
southern Russian city of Volgograd.
A Volgograd court acquitted her in April, citing insufficient evidence, but the supreme court
overturned that decision and returned the case to the original court.
The court ruled yesterday that Fratti had to report regularly to police in her town of Volzhsk for
the next five years, according to a report from the Interfax news agency.
The director of a Volgograd orphanage, an education department inspector and an orphanage
doctor accused of collaborating with Fratti received suspended sentences between three and
seven years.
Fratti helped Italian families adopt about 600 children between 1993 and 2000, the ITAR-Tass
news agency reported, citing the prosecution.
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532 reads
Woman found guilty in Russian baby smuggling scandal
Date: 2002-12-31
A Russian Supreme Court has convicted an Italian woman of bribery and forgery in an adoption
scandal involving more than 600 Russian orphans.
Former Russian and now Italian citizen Nadezhda Fratti has been convicted of bribing officials
and forging documents to smuggle hundreds of Russian orphans from the city of Volgograd into
Italy during the 1990s.
Her accomplices included a doctor and a director from a local baby care centre.
Each child had a price tag depending on whether they were healthy or disabled and she is
reported to have received a total of more than $US1.5 million in kickbacks.
Fewer than 100 of the 600 children have been traced and authorities are now investigating
reports some infants were turned over to an Italian organ transplant clinic.
Fratti has been sentenced to five years probation.
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467 reads
Child discipline gone awry
Date: 2002-12-30
Child discipline gone awry
3 cases show trend of punishment taken to extreme
By Geoffrey Fattah
Deseret News staff writer
PROVO — Yanking teeth, force-feeding water and withholding food may sound like torturechamber tactics, but they are just some of the extreme allegations leveled against three Utah
County couples over the past year. The victims: their children.
Although those who deal with child abuse cases are at a loss to explain how three high-profile
child abuse cases could come up within a short time span, they do say such punishment-goneawry cases mark a disturbing trend.
In his 10 years specializing in child abuse investigations, Utah County Sheriff's Lt. Jerry Monson
said he had never before seen cases where guardians allegedly went to such bizarre lengths to
punish their children.
"One of the new dynamics is this kind of disciplinary abuse," Monson said. "We've always had
abuse cases. It's just now there seems to be a new motive."
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1108 reads
Santa and Mrs. Claus
Date: 2002-12-27
Santa and Mrs. Claus
By GWEN SWANSON
The Daily Tribune (Hibbing Daily Tribune)
December 26th, 2002 09:40:22 AM
HIBBING — Christmas and kids go best together, which is why now is a truly special time for
Dave and Glenda Kinghorn.
This rural Meadowlands couple holds a love for children and a giving spirit that could only come
from Santa and Mrs. Claus.
Whether playing the jolly holiday pair for youngsters at local malls or helping at home with their
kids — 10 total — they are happiest working with children.
The couple began considering adoption after moving from California to Minnesota. They felt the
need to help and heard the call to adopt children with special needs.
They first adopted a brother and two sisters — Christopher, 12; Tierra, 10; and Sarah Jane, 7.
The group had been in the system and many were willing to adopt the children individually. But
the Kinghorns were willing to take in all three.
Jasmine, 7, who was burned badly over much of her body at age two, came next.
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390 reads
State v. Higginbotham
Date: 2002-12-24
State v. Higginbotham (2002-308); 174 Vt. 640; 816 A.2d 547
[Filed 24-Dec-2002]
ENTRY ORDER
SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 2002-308
NOVEMBER TERM, 2002
State of Vermont
v.
Laura Higginbotham
}
APPEALED FROM:
}
}
}
}
}
}
District Court of Vermont,
Unit No. 2, Chittenden Circuit
DOCKET NO. 2792-5-01 Cncr
Trial Judge:
Michael S.
Kupersmith
In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:
¶ 1. Defendant appeals from the denial of her private counsel's
sealed ex parte motion requesting public funding for expert witnesses and
investigative services necessary to her defense of a charge of involuntary
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Questions raised in death of toddler;
Other cases of abuse involving adopted
Russian children:
Date: 2002-12-23
Former child advocate wonders if some warning signs were ignored.
Author: Michael Puente, Post-Tribune staff writer
While Natalie Fabian Evans is set to celebrate Christmas with her husband and
possibly their adopted 3-year-old son, some wonder if more could have been
done by authorities to prevent the death of her other adopted son, 16-monthold Luke.
Prosecutors allege Luke was murdered at the hands of Natalie Evans. Doctors
say Luke died of physical abuse and shaken baby syndrome.
Even so, Evans was allowed to post bail in the case just days after being
charged with the capital crime -- something almost unheard of in Lake County.
Evans' defense attorneys strongly contend Luke had prior serious health
problems when he arrived in Northwest Indiana as a 10-month-old from Russia
in May 2001.
The adoption of an ill Russian child isn't unusual.
From 1990 to 2001, some 100,000 foreign children, a vast majority from Russia
and China, have been adopted by Americans and most develop healthy lives with
their new families.
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3178 reads
Floyd County Couple Jailed On Child
Abuse Charges
Date: 2002-12-17
(PRESTONSBURG, Ky., December 17th, 2002, 11:25 a.m.) -- The custodians of a
boy who was allegedly beaten with a horsewhip and shocked with a cattle prod
remained in the Floyd County jail on Tuesday in lieu of $100,000 bond.
Ansel Hall, 28, and his wife, Georgia Hall, 31, of Mud Creek, were indicted
Wednesday on charges of criminally abusing the 12-year-old boy who was placed
temporarily in their custody. They pleaded not guilty at an arraignment
Thursday.
Ansel Hall faces 14 counts of first-degree criminal abuse. Georgia Hall was
indicted on 16 counts.
The indictments allege that the Halls abused the child with various devices,
including the cattle prod, horse whip, a broomstick and a wooden paddle. The
indictment claims that the Halls also struck the child in the head with a
shotgun and pointed the loaded shotgun at him.
The Halls' next court appearance was scheduled for May 7.
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185 reads
Foster parents sentenced in child's
death
Date: 2002-12-17
Marion County/Dec. 17 - A state agency botched a background check that might
have prevented the death of four-year-old Anthony Bars. Now, Anthony's
parents are back in jail. But Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi says the
case isn't over yet.
Anthony Bars weighed just 24 pounds when he died in January 2002.
Police interviews reveal he was "markedly emaciated and growth retarded,"
bruised from repeated beatings with a wooden paddle, metal spoon and belt.
Brizzi described the home where Anthony lived with his twin sister as a
torture chamber. "They, over a period of time, abused these kids slowly,
starved them slowly, until you had the result that we have here today."
A judge convicted Anthony's adoptive parents, L.B. and Latricia Bars, on
felony neglect charges in the case last month. Their daughter, Hope, was
convicted of battery.
Wednesday, they returned to court for sentencing.
Friends and relatives portrayed the Bars as a church-centered family that
took good care of the children.
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