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hue

(4,949 posts)
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 08:26 PM Jun 2014

Pennsylvania ex-prosecutor, wife, plead in adoption abuse case

Source: Reuters



June 23 (Reuters) - A former Pennsylvania prosecutor and his wife pleaded no contest on Monday to charges of endangering the welfare of two children they adopted from Ethiopia.

Douglas Barbour 34, and Kristen Barbour, 32, agreed to the plea in exchange for the dismissal of other criminal charges, including assault, during a court appearance in Pittsburgh.

They were arrested in 2012 on suspicion of starving their 5-year-old adopted son and mistreating their 13-month-old daughter, both of whom were adopted from Ethiopia.

The boy was 10 pounds (4.5 kg) underweight and found to have skin lesions from being left in urine-soaked clothing, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, citing doctors and the criminal complaint. The girl had head trauma and other physical ailments, the complaint said.

The Barbours also had two biological children at home.

Douglas Barbour, who was a deputy state attorney general at the time of his arrest, resigned from the post last year. He is likely to face probation at his sentencing on September 15 for two misdemeanor counts of child endangerment, prosecutors said.


Read more: http://af.reuters.com/article/idAFL2N0P41O620140623

15 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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LisaL

(44,962 posts)
7. Exactly.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 10:49 PM
Jun 2014

Why would one go through all the trouble of adopting children (and it's not cheap either) and then abuse them?

Mnemosyne

(21,363 posts)
9. It is mind-boggling to say the least. International adoption is even more expensive than here, I
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 10:58 PM
Jun 2014

would guess. Makes no sense to me either. Twisted humans for whatever reason.

LibertyLover

(4,788 posts)
15. So true
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 01:56 PM
Jun 2014

I look at my daughter, adopted from China and think how lucky I am to have her. There is no way I would abuse her, although according to her, my making her eat vegetables like brocoli is abuse.

Freddie

(9,231 posts)
4. "Christians" perhaps?
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 09:15 PM
Jun 2014

There's a movement amongst Fundies to adopt orphans in need of "good Christian homes", and often the children are from Ethiopia. Then when the kids don't adapt to American ways fast enough, especially given the harsh discipline methods popular with Fundies, horror stories like this happen.

Divernan

(15,480 posts)
5. Lifelong Bible thumpers
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 09:44 PM
Jun 2014

The Post Gazette article linked below is rich in horrifying detail of how a couple with unrealistic, uninformed expectations, nearly killed these 2 small kids. Here's the permitted 4 paragraph excerpt:

.
On Oct. 5, the day after the Barbours were charged, about 15 members of Christ Bible Church gathered for an evening prayer session led by the Rev. Jimmy Caraway. Two days later, he made an announcement about the situation before beginning his sermon.

"What is happening is nothing less than evil. I don't know how else to say it. It's nothing less than evil," he said. "They, the Barbours, did a very good, very biblical thing that was well thought through -- they adopted. And I tell you, this is not of God. ... They need a vast amount of prayer and support in other ways, and we as a church will be faithful." A video of the sermon is posted on the church's website.

Rev. Caraway twice declined to talk about his congregants for this story. He would not explain whether the charges or the alleged acts themselves are "evil" and "not of God." A deacon at the church tasked with checking in on the family did not return a phone message.

The Barbours wrote in their blog that they adopted through Bethany Christian Services -- which facilitates between 1,500 and 2,000 adoptions each year at both the state and international level and was established in 1944.
The agency would not talk about the Barbours -- or even confirm that the couple were clients -- but did talk about the after-care services it requires


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/north/2012/10/21/Adoption-saga-ends-with-charges-for-Franklin-Park-couple/stories/201210210209#ixzz35W5dWxJN
 

happyslug

(14,779 posts)
6. Who hired a non Duquesne or Pitt law school grad in Western Pennsylvania?
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 10:47 PM
Jun 2014

According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the Defendant was a Graduate of University of Michigan Law School. I have heard nothing bad about it, but a Western Pennsylvanian going to some law school other then Pitt or Duquesne?? Furthermore who in Western Pennsylvania would hire such a law School graduate??

Yes, they are non-Duquesne or Pitt Law School grads practicing in Western Pennsylvania, I have run across various out of the area Law School Grads, but as a whole we prefer Pitt or Duquesne Graduates.

The Pitt School of Law is considered Second tier, i.e. not up to Harvard or Yale, but close. Duquesne is lower on the list but still respectable. On the following list Pitt is considered #91 in the Nation, Duquesne is not ON the list, but neither is the

http://www.top-law-schools.com/rankings.html

On the following List, Pitt Law School is #81, and Duquesne is #121:

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings/page+5

If someone local can NOT get into those schools, why go anywhere else? University of Pennsylvania, Temple University and Dickerson School of Law (now Penn State Dickinson School of Law) are the other big names you hear in Western Pennsylvania, but no where near Pitt of Duquesne Law School Graduates (Through Dickinson, Temple and University of Pennsylvania are considered better law schools then Pitt and Duquesne).

Yes, I know our Governor and Former Attorney General went to St Mary's School of Law in San Antonio Texas. I lived in Texas for a few years, and the Law School to go to in Texas was University of Texas School of Law(Which brings up the subject, why did Colbert go to San Antonio to go to Law School, could not get in Pitt or Duquesne?).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_University_School_of_Law

But enough of our Governor, this ex prosecutor went out of State for Law School? Now on the above List University of Michigan at Ann Arbor is listed as #10, but again whey go out of state? Why become a Prosecutor in Allegheny County if you went to the #10 school in the Country? (remember you have to fight a lot of Pitt and Duquesne Grads for the same spot).

Something does not fit, what it is I do not know.

KT2000

(20,544 posts)
8. Not another one
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 10:56 PM
Jun 2014

In Washington, some fundies adopted a little girl from Ethiopia and they killed her. She was emaciated and she died of exposure because they forced her to stay outside during freezing weather with no coat. They are in jail now but don't remember for how long.

LeftyMom

(49,212 posts)
10. A couple in Paradise, CA adopted kids from Liberia. They beat one to death for mispronouncing a word
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 11:17 PM
Jun 2014

They nearly killed her sister too, she had to be helicoptered to the children's hospital here in Sacramento and was near death but was saved. What happened was that they were beat so severely that their muscle tissues started to break down (the same thing that happens when you tenderize a steak with a mallet) and their kidneys couldn't move the toxins from the cell breakdown out fast enough and they went into kidney failure.

It's actually a known side effect of fundamentalist parents using a parenting technique advised by Debi and Michael Pearl. They suggest beating children with a plumbing line for even minor infractions, because it inflicts deep muscle damage and doesn't leave a mark. The Pearls also advise potty training children by hosing them off after accidents, outside, in all weather.

KT2000

(20,544 posts)
12. Ir sounds like the Pearl's
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 02:01 AM
Jun 2014

are educating people in child abuse. I wonder if anyone is looking into this. It also looks like fundies who adopt should be monitored.

QuestForSense

(653 posts)
11. I don't understand letting them plead 'no contest' in order to avoid jail time.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 12:11 AM
Jun 2014

I truly hope they have seen the error of their ways. But probation for two misdemeanor counts of child endangerment? What they have done seems a lot worse than that. I just read a story about an unemployed single mother who left her kids in the car while she went in for a job interview -- something that in some cases might be considered child endangerment. She's facing eight years in prison for felony child abuse. Something is definitely not right here.

lunasun

(21,646 posts)
13. Only had them 7 months before arrested . girl may be partially blind now
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 02:47 AM
Jun 2014

& In a few months they expected a 6 yr old to completely adapt to a new very different environment by using deprevation as a behavioral tool


Guess they really were looking for miracles....

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