Arkansas Rep. Harris gave his adopted children away to a man who raped one of them

[Deberg_1990]

What the?? Never heard of this 'Re-Homing' thing???



he Arkansas Times is out with an expose on Arkansas Rep. Justin Harris with shocking revelations that he and his wife gave their adopted 6-year-old and 3-year-old daughters to Eric Cameron Francis, a man who worked as a teacher at their Christian preschool and was fired after only three months on the job.
For reasons still unclear, the Harris' gave the girls away, first to Francis and his wife, and then to another unnamed family. But, not before Francis did the unthinkable:

"On the afternoon of March 28, 2014, the CID was asked by the commander of the Crimes Against Children Division to assist in determining where two minor age children might be, who had been adopted," said Bill Sadler, spokesman for the State Police. "By sometime late in the afternoon, CID had told CACD that the girls were accounted for — at the home of a family who appeared not to be the custodial parents of the girls." By the morning of Monday, March 31, the prosecutor documents indicate, the girls were interviewed by a CACD agent. During this interview, the 6-year-old disclosed the abuse by Francis, which Francis later told police occurred sometime in January 2014, while his wife was out of state.
Apparently the children weren't working out in the Harris home and they just gave them away. One of the surprises reporters Ben Harding and Leslie Peacock uncovered is that "rehoming" is far too common–and NOT illegal.
If some readers are startled to learn that it's legal for adoptive parents to give their children to another family, they're in good company. As the State Police investigation unfolded last spring, one person kept apprised of its progress was then-Gov. Mike Beebe. Matt DeCample, Beebe's former spokesperson, said the governor was surprised as anyone to hear about the practice of "rehoming," as it's called in the adoption world. (DeCample said it was common practice for the State Police to alert the governor's office whenever it discovered a state elected official had an ancillary connection to a criminal investigation.)
"As we were briefed on the State Police investigation into Mr. Francis and the circumstances around that case, none of us in the office, including the governor, had ever dealt with the rehousing of children who had been adopted through DHS," DeCample recalled. "It's not something that had ever come up before, and, frankly, we didn't know that it was something that could happen, or why it would ever happen.

One positive that may come from this is a change in the law that allows adoptive children to simply be given away without notification to the Department of Human Services. There is enough outrage around this particular case that it may bring about change sooner than later.
The lengthy article at the The Arkansas Times is a highly recommended read.

Rep. Harris gave a brief comment to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

"When our adoption became final, we went to the court, the whole family, exchanged teddy bears and everything -- and it was like a light bulb suddenly flipped on for the girls. They knew, suddenly knew, that this was their forever home, and they were no longer ever going back to Mom's house," Harris said. "There was anger and an instant behavior change."
Harris said he sought help for the girls and took them to counseling, but their behavior did not improve.

..........

"We would have never knowingly put a child in harm's way, and anyone who knows us knows that," Harris said.

And what's the latest with Rep. Justin Harris? He's still working as a state representative. And he's still serving as the Vice Chair of the Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs, and Legislative Audit.



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/0...tail=facebook#

[BigMeatballDave]

Well, it IS Arkansas...

[TribalElder]

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

People who re-home pets are assholes. People who re-home kids are disgusting pieces of shit

[Why Not?]

Would rather be raped by an Arkansas Representative than read another Deberg thread.

[Chief_For_Life58]

What.the.****

[Pitt Gorilla]

The guy knew that the person he was giving his child to was a bad guy. Simply unbelievable.

More information:

http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/a-c...nt?oid=3691164

[wazu]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

The guy knew that the person he was giving his child to was a bad guy. Simply unbelievable.

More information:

http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/a-c...nt?oid=3691164

Where does the article say he knew he was a bad guy?

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by wazu

Where does the article say he knew he was a bad guy?

He fired the guy. Perhaps he still thought he was outstanding and deserving of taking his children, but it's hard to imagine that was the case.

You're not responsible enough to work here, but feel free to keep my kids.

[NewChief]

Since this guy lives about 10 minutes from me, I'm pretty aware of this whole case. I'm not going to comment on the specifics of it, but I am going to talk about the trends in adoption.

I know, personally, three different older couples who have decided to adopt kids after their initial blood-related kids have gotten older. All three of these couples are deeply religious, and they've done it as a sort of "mission." In all three cases, it has completely bit them in the ass. Two of the cases, they were adopting from Russia. One was local. All three, the kids were somewhat older and "formed" when they adopted them.

All three of them, the kids had Reactive Attachment Disorder, and it turned these parents lives into a nightmare. If you research is, you'll see that it's a really common trend with people adopting out of Russia/Eastern European orphanages.

Now I'm not trying to absolve Justin Harris (as I couldn't stand the guy prior to this event), but I can't help but feel sorry for all these well-meaning parents who felt that God was leading them to adopting some kid to help them out, and they end up with a 6 year old standing over their bed at night with a knife threatening to kill them (true scenario that happened in 2 of the 3 cases I mentioned above).

[NewChief]

Story continues to unfold:

http://m.arktimes.com/arkansas/casti...nt?oid=3725371

Highlights:

* Harris blamed DHS for lack of support and not informing him of severity of girls' issues.

*DHs and others involved in adoption counter that not only was he informed but they warned him that the girls should go with more experienced parents. They maintain that a DHS superior expedited the adoption for Harris despite their protestations due to this political clout.

*Harris's kept one of the girls locked in a room with a camera for surveillance.

*They reportedly tried to perform an exorcism on the girls, and the wife was reportedly obsessed with demons and convinced the girls were possessed.

*The Harris family denies the above.