How Could You? Hall of Shame-Dave and Wonda Dixon UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Lubbock, Texas, Adoptive parents “Dave Howard Dixon, 62, and Wonda Faye Dixon, 58, are each indicted on a charge of injury to a child. They remained jailed Friday in lieu of $150,000 bond each.”

“The adoptive parents of 10 children were indicted this week on felony charges, accused of withholding food and water from their 12-year-old daughter and telling her siblings to hit her.”

“An affidavit shows that the girl was malnourished and weighed 57 pounds when taken to a Lubbock hospital in August.”

“Court documents show they deny wrongdoing. They did not have a criminal attorney as of Friday.

Child Protective Services removed all the children from the home in August after a civil proceeding placed them in foster care.

Efforts to reach the attorney handling their civil case were unsuccessful.

CPS specialist Rosa Garcia’s affidavit described the girl as being “unsteady” and said she “appears to walk like she is about to break.” The girl’s spine and ribs were visible through her shirt, the affidavit states.

The girl was kept 24 hours a day in a room that smelled of urine and was allowed out only to shower and eat, according to the affidavit.

In August the girl had a black eye and a busted lip as a result of injuries inflicted by her adoptive siblings at the direction of Wonda Dixon, according to the affidavit.

CPS spokesman Paul Zimmerman said in an email that four reports in the past 18 months that accused the Dixons of abuse had been ruled out.

Wonda Dixon told investigators that if the girl “would not throw her food over the fence and feed the dogs when she is angry, she would not lose weight,” documents state.

Records show the girl at one point had weighed as much as 90 pounds.

The children include six boys, ages 3 to 14, and three other girls, ages 5 to 10.

Dave Dixon said the girl would urinate and defecate on herself as the family ate, and as a result would be sent outside to eat, court documents state.”

Adoptive parents of 10 indicted on child abuse charges[ Houston Chronicle 10/4/13 by Associated Press]

“Lubbock County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Dave and Wonda Dixon on Wednesday morning, Oct. 3. They are charged with abusing one of their adopted children.

Authorities said 58-year-old Wonda and 62-year-old Dave Dixon are accused of withholding food and water from the child.

Sheriff Kelly Rowe said the Dixons have 10 adopted children, ranging in age from 5 to 14 years old.

Rowe said all of the children have special needs. The children are now in the care of Child Protective Services.

CPS released this statement on Thursday:

Child Protective Services has removed 10 children from the Dixon home and placed them in foster care where they are all doing well.

The children include six boys ages 14, 14, 12, 8, 8 and 3; and four girls ages 12, 10, 5 and 5.

They were removed from the home 6 weeks ago due to concerns of severe physical and medical neglect related to a child not being fed and cared for properly. There were also abuse concerns related to inappropriate discipline that included spanking children with paddles, switches and water hoses.

Mr. and Mrs. Dixon do have CPS history. We received 4 reports alleging abuse and neglect during the last year and half. All of the allegations were ruled out.

All 10 children were previously foster children and were adopted by the Dixons, between December 2009 and July 2012.

The Dixons successfully completed the very stringent process to become an adoptive home. This includes training, background checks, CPS history check, home study, and adoptive placement “trial periods” with each child. Adoptions were consummated by a judge after hearing from caseworkers, attorneys, the parents and children involved.

It’s heartbreaking to see parents break the promises they made to the courts, attorneys, caseworkers and most importantly the children – promises to love them, care for them and protect them forever as if they were their own.

Child Protective Services will be holding a hearing to consider these abuse allegations on Oct. 22.”

CPS to consider Dixon family abuse allegations on Oct. 22[KCBD 10/7/13]

“Dave and Wonda Dixon are still behind bars after investigators say they found deplorable conditions inside their home. Now, our investigation is raising some serious questions about their finances.

The Dixons receive thousands of tax dollars every month to care for their ten children, but the couple recently filed an affidavit saying they didn’t have enough money to pay for a lawyer.

We found the couple had plenty of cash on hand for other things.

Our investigation revealed that the Dixons pay more than $300 for cable and Internet, $250 for cell service, and $800 for clothing. Those are just some of the expenses the Dixons say they pay every month. Those may sound like average living conditions, but not for a couple that’s not working and raising ten children.

We spoke to a CPS whistle blower who told us some adoptive parents are simply gaming the system.

“When you’re looking at these kids in the Dixon case, you’re looking at a child farm,” Carlos Mendoza said.

Several of the Dixons’ adopted children have disabilities, which means the couple gets more than $5,000 per month from the state to subsidize their care.

“A child who has a disability, the home gets more money. For many foster parents, it is a business,” Mendoza said.

Add the subsidy to their Social Security disability benefits and the family takes in more than $80,000 a year.

The Dixons are charged with Child Abuse and are accused of starving one of the children. The Dixons claim they are spending $500 a month on food for a family of 12. That breaks down to $41 a month per child and less than $1.50 a day.

Neighbor Bobby Wilson says he’s watched the Dixons add thousands of dollars in improvements to their home.

“In the past 18 to 24 months they’ve built that yard up, put a fence up, added a double garage and everything,” Wilson said.

A nice yard, a new garage, but not enough money for food? Documents obtained by KCBD revealed the Dixons’ 12-year old daughter was seen by her teachers taking food out of the trash can at school. Eventually, she was admitted to the hospital for malnourishment, weighing only 57 pounds – a stark contrast to the life Bobby Wilson has seen play out across the street.

“They’ve got a nice place. They’ve built it up and put a lot of money into it since they’ve been there,” Wilson said.

Wonda and Dave Dixon are still being held in the Lubbock County Jail on a $150,000 dollar bond.”

KCBD Investigates: Were the Dixons scamming the system?[KCBD 11/11/13 By Sarah-Blake Morgan]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update: “Typically,  kids in the foster care system are removed from their biological parents after they’ve been abused or neglected.

The idea is to, then, place them into a loving and safe environment.

Dave and Wonda Dixon, a Lubbock couple adopted 10 special needs children ages 5 to 14, out of the foster care system.

But, last October, everything changed when the Dixons were arrested on charges of child abuse.

Eight months later, they’re still in jail.

In an interview we did with the Dixons five years ago, they told us how rewarding giving foster kids a new life can be.

And now, they face charges of injury to a child.

Investigators say Child Protective Services responded to a complaint last August, finding one child so severely malnourished, she was removed from the home immediately and needed hospital care.

They believe the Dixon’s were withholding food and water.

The other nine were removed shortly after after accusations of more extreme punishments.

“CPS is making all reasonable efforts to tend to the not just that particular child, but the nine siblings. Not just in medical, but in terms of their educational needs, emotional needs,” says Neal Burt with Lubbock’s District Attorney office.

Burt says each child’s level of care needed determines where they have been placed.

Today, one is in an emergency shelter, another in institutional placement, the other eight in foster homes.

What was once a family, is now broken apart.

“They have been having contact with each other it’s not without great difficulties in making it happen, but the CPS team has been very diligent in traveling all over the state to help transport those kids and make that occur as best as they practically can,” Burt said.

Ely Martinez at Caring Family Network, says these situations are traumatic.

“Any move regardless of why they move, theres always a sense of rejection. No matter how many times you tell them it wasn’t you,” said Martinez.

Especially if they move from a bad situation with their biological parents and into an abusive foster home.

“It’s just inconsistency, more of a chaotic environment, it’s just adding again to the trauma,” she said.

But through the great deal of background checks, home studies and long application process to become a foster parent, agencies hope to avoid these kinds of situations at all cost.

“We are human and sometimes things do slip by, because people do put up a good front,” Martinez said.

Kerry Piper, Wonda Dixon’s attorney tells us, he doesn’t think the Dixons did anything wrong.

“Certainly not to the degree alleged,” said Piper.

Piper couldn’t get into the facts of the case but says he doesn’t think the charges have any merit.

“They’ve gone through 10 adoptions. These aren’t just foster kids. They’ve been cleared and cleared and cleared. All of a sudden we are faced with these kind of charges,” Piper said.

After fostering a child for six months, families like the Dixons are able to move into the adoption process.

Once the adoption is official, CPS and other agencies no longer check in.

So, Martinez says we have an obligation as a community.

“As a community, keeping an eye on each other and not turning a blind eye and saying that’s none of my business. I think our kids are our business,” she said.

“We are leaving no stone unturned,” Burt says. “In trying to find the best resolution for each and everyone of the 10 children.”

The CPS and criminal cases are still pending, but the number one priority is trying to establish some kind of normalcy for these kids, so they try to find joy away from what was once, their family.

May is Foster Care Awareness month, and the Caring Family Network says that,  even after what happened with the Dixon’s, it is important to acknowledge all of the good families working to give foster kids a safe and loving home. ”

A Lubbock Couple Charged with Child Abuse, 8 Months Later A Family Remains Broken Apart[Everything Lubbock 5/13/14 By Anne Parker]

Update 2:”The case of a Lubbock woman accused of abusing her adopted daughter is set to go to trial in February, according to court records.

And the 10 children she and her husband were responsible for raising remain in foster care and are receiving therapy to “move past the abuse/neglect they’ve experienced,” a children’s advocate said.

Wonda Dixon, 59, is accused of withholding food, water and medical care from her 12-year-old adopted daughter.

A Lubbock County grand jury indicted Dixon on Oct. 1, 2013, on a charge of injuring a child knowingly or intentionally, resulting in severe bodily injury.

Her husband, 63-year-old Dave Dixon, faces the same charge.

They were arrested the next day and were booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center where they remain incarcerated.

The couple have denied any wrongdoing.

Their bond is set at $150,000 each, according to jail records.

They are being represented by different attorneys and their request for a bond reduction last year was denied, according to court records.

Affidavits filed with the 137th District Court state the Dixons ignored their adopted daughter’s disturbing behavior and punished her by withholding food and water and ordering her siblings to hit her.

Charges were filed against the Dixons after officials found the 12-year-old weighing 58 pounds.

School personnel had concerns about the girl and contacted the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Teachers found the girl stealing food and eating out of trash cans, according to the affidavit.

The girl was pulled from public school and home-schooled after the report.

“If she would not throw her food over the fence and feed the dogs when she is angry she would not lose weight,” Wonda Dixon is quoted as saying by a child abuse investigator.

Dave Dixon said the 12-year-old girl would urinate and defecate on herself as the family ate, court documents said. As a result, she would be sent outside to eat.

The girl was taken to University Medical Center at the request of a Child Protective Services investigator because of her emaciated condition, according to the affidavit.

Child Protective Services specialist Rosa Garcia described the girl as being “unsteady, and appears to walk like she is about to break.” The girl’s spine and ribs were visible through her shirt, according to Garcia.

She weighed 58 pounds and a UMC doctor said her condition could have been fatal if it went untreated.

“The department feels that any child left in the care of the Dixons would be unsafe,” Garcia wrote in an affidavit. “The department believes there is a lot more going on in the home, but we will not get a clear picture of what that is until the children are removed.”

 

The children

The Dixons had 10 children ages 5 to 14 living in their home on County Road 7240.

CPS media specialist Paul Zimmerman said the children were removed from the Dixon home six weeks prior to the arrests because of concerns about severe physical and medical neglect, according to A-J archives.

“All of the Dixon children are in foster care at this time and receiving (trauma-informed) therapy to meet their individual needs and help them move past the abuse/neglect they’ve experienced,” Zimmerman said in an email. “We’ll continue to monitor their safety and welfare while working toward permanent placements for each child such as adoption, family reunification, permanent managing conservatorship to a relative/suitable individual or another planned living arrangement (i.e. independent living, community care or foster family DFPS conservatorship.)”
Zimmerman said CPS is not assisting in the Dixons’ prosecution, but CPS workers will share the findings of their investigation and may be called as witnesses.

Court records do not show when the case against Dave Dixon will go to trial. However, he has elected for a jury to determine his punishment if he is convicted, court records show.

At present, the couple is asking the court to reconsider their request for reduced bonds.”

Dixon child abuse case moving forward as 10 children get therapy for ‘abuse/neglect’[Lubbock online 12/19/14 by Gabriel Monte]

Update 3:“Wonda Dixon was sentenced to 24 months in a state jail after pleading guilty Monday to a charge of endangering a child.

Dixon, 60, was set to stand trial Sept. 8 in the 140th District Court, according to court records.

Wonda Dixon and her husband, Dave Dixon, faced a first-degree felony count of injury to a child.

Prosecutors accused the couple of withholding food from one of their foster daughters to the point of emaciation.

A Child Protective Services specialist reported the couple’s 12-year-old daughter weighed about 57 pounds when she was taken to the University Medical Center emergency room in August 2013.

Wonda Dixon was in court Monday for a pre-trial hearing when she accepted prosecutor’s offer to a 24-month sentence with time served in exchange for a guilty plea to the lesser included charge of endangering a child.

Judge Jim Bob Darnell accepted Dixon’s plea and followed the state’s recommended punishment.

The Dixons have remained at the Lubbock County Detention Center since their Oct. 2, 2013, arrest.

Their bond is set at $150,000 each.

The 12-year-old girl was one of 10 adopted children in the couple’s custody. The ages of the children ranged from 3 to 14, according to court records.

Child Protective Services was granted an emergency order to remove the children from the couple’s custody six weeks prior to the arrest after finding the couple’s 12-year-old foster daughter severely malnourished.

Further investigation revealed more abuses including the accusation that Wonda Dixon instructed her children to hurt the girl if she acts out, according to court records.

Eight of children have been placed in foster and group homes in Lubbock and Potter counties, according to a July progress report filed in court.

Two of the eldest children are in residential treatment centers in Smith and Dallas counties.

Prosecutors could not comment after the hearing as Dave Dixon’s case remains open.

A trial date has not yet been set in the case.”

Wonda Dixon pleads guilty to child endangerment, sentenced to 24 months [Lubbock online 8/31/15 by Gabriel Monte]