How Could You? Hall of Shame-Michigan adoptive parents

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 Deerfield Township, Michigan,”Court documents filed in juvenile court allege the couple, both 43, emotionally and mentally abused the teen by isolating him in the basement of the family’s Bennett Lake Road home.”

“Prosecutors are reviewing a warrant request for a Deerfield Township couple accused of mentally and emotionally abusing their 16-year-old adopted son who created a family for himself using stuffed animals.

Prosecutor William Vailliencourt confirmed that his office is reviewing a request from police seeking a warrant against the couple for child abuse. He declined further comment.

“I just live my life in the basement,” the teen told a worker with the Michigan Department of Human Services’ Child Protective Services, according to court documents filed in the Livingston County juvenile court.

Christopher Nalley, who has been court-appointed to represent the 16-year-old, declined to comment about the nature of the case. However, he said he “supports” DHS’ decision to remove the teen from the family home. The teen is in foster care.

Bob Wheaton, a DHS public information officer, said the department does not comment on neglect/abuse cases and, therefore, could not say when or how protective services was notified of the alleged abuse.

Multiple messages to the couple were not returned. The Livingston Daily is not identifying the couple because they have not been charged with a crime.

According to court documents, protective services investigated allegations in May 2010 that the teen, then only 12, was “being isolated,” which included being forced to eat different meals than the family and being allowed to only “sit in corner of one room of the main home.”

The following year, protective services noted allegations included the mother “slapped” her adopted son’s legs while he napped and that she struck him with a hanger, which broke, court documents noted. The couple’s then 14-year-old biological daughter told protective services that her adopted brother ruins the “silence and peace within the family” and that he ruined his relationship with the family when he killed the family’s cat, court documents stated.

In May 2012, protective services again investigated allegations, this time that the mother was holding her adopted son on the floor with her foot, according to court documents. The protective services worker noted that the mother “was not loving” toward her adopted son, who had no toys or decorations in his bedroom, the court records stated.

Protective services also noted that the matriarch, who had expressed a desire two years earlier to dissolve the adoption, admitted that the family kept the door between the main living area and the basement locked. The family matriarch told protective services her adopted son can access the basement through an entry door, but he could not access the main living area until someone from the family gave him access, according to court documents.

In February, protective services again investigated allegations that the teen, now 16, was locked in his bedroom and rarely had interaction with the family. Protective services noted the boy’s meals were left on the top stair and he was forced to eat alone in his bedroom as well as forced to urinate and defecate in a camper toilet placed in his living area, court documents alleged.

The protective services worker also noted that the teen’s bedroom had a twin bed, but no sheets, blankets or pillows despite the basement being “colder than the rest of the house.”

The family patriarch admitted to protective services that the door separating the basement from the main level of the home is locked and that the boy uses the camper toilet when no one else is home, according to court documents. The patriarch told protective services that his adopted son lashes out at people and steals things throughout the house, court records show.

Protective services workers noted that the teen indicated his adopted mother “tried to give him” to another woman, but that woman was too poor and could not take him. He also told protective services that his brother punched him in the gut and his sister held a shotgun to his face while yelling at him to leave the home, according to court documents.

“I just want a loving family” who “will hug and kiss me,” the teen said according to court documents.”

CPS: Family isolates adopted teen in basement[Livingston Daily 3/3/15 by Lisa Roose-Church]

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