How Could You? Hall of Shame-Douglas and Kim Sherman

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 Lancaster, Ohio, there is a missed 2014 case of Douglas Lyle and Kim Eng Sherman.”A Fairfield County couple accused of child abuse last year for locking their 15-year-old adopted daughter out of the house and making her sleep in a backyard shed have been sentenced to probation.

Fairfield County Municipal Court acting Judge James Fais sentenced Douglas and Kim Sherman to 180 days in jail each, which was suspended for two years on probation.

They also agreed to give up their parental rights and permanently release the girl to the custody of Child Protective Services, and not to have any contact with her.

They were sentenced on Friday after they took a negotiated plea agreement and pleaded no contest to endangering children, a first-degree misdemeanor, court records show.

Mr. Sherman, 64, and Mrs. Sherman, 61, of …, initially were charged with child endangering as a felony, but prosecutors said there was no evidence that the girl had been seriously physically harmed.”

Fairfield County couple sentenced for keeping daughter in shed[The Columbus Dispatch 3/18/15 by Mary Beth Lane]

2014 Articles-They fail to mention that she was adopted.

“A Fairfield County couple has been charged with child abuse, accused of forcing their 15-year-old daughter to live in an outbuilding without food, water or a toilet.

Douglas Lyle Sherman, 64, and Kim Eng Sherman, 60, were arrested on Thursday night at their home at …. They are being held in the Fairfield County jail, Sheriff Dave Phalen said yesterday.

Deputies found a disturbing arrangement when they went to the home, which has a small outbuilding attached in the rear.

Their daughter was made to live in the outbuilding, and she was refused entry to the family home for food and other necessities, Phalen said.

The girl spent nights in the outbuilding with no lights, water or toilet. She used a garden hose and soap placed outside the building to shower, and used the woods to relieve herself, Phalen said.

Two cinder blocks supporting a sheet of plywood covered by cardboard served as a makeshift bed in the outbuilding, he said.

“It was very disturbing, to say the least,” Phalen said.

It is believed that the girl has been kept in the outbuilding consistently since around Aug. 1. She may have been made to stay there, off and on, for longer, he said.

County Child Protective Services has taken the girl and her brother into protective custody. Her brother lived in the family home, Phalen said.

“I don’t know what their motive is — whether it was a form of discipline — but our sense is this was going on for a period of time,” Phalen said.

Mr. Sherman is charged with child endangering and intimidation, both third-degree felonies punishable by a maximum of five years in prison for each if convicted. He also is charged with telephone harassment and menacing, both misdemeanors.

Mrs. Sherman is charged with child endangering.

He was in jail in lieu of $35,000 bond and she in lieu of $25,000 bond. They are expected to be arraigned on Monday, Phalen said.”

Fairfield County couple charged with keeping 15-year-old daughter in shed[The Columbus Dispatch 9/13/14 by Mary Beth Lane]

 

“A 15-year-old Ohio girl bravely slipped a note under a neighbor’s door asking for help after being forced to live in a shed and sleep on cinderblocks, authorities said.

The plea led to the girl’s parents’ arrest Thursday on felony child endangerment charges after she was discovered living in “horrific” conditions by Fairfield County deputies.

Authorities said her parents, Douglas Lyle Sherman, 64, and Kim Eng Sherman, 60, refused to allow the girl inside their home “for food or necessary living adequacies.”

“The child was prevented access to the home unless asking for permission, and spent nights in the outbuilding with no lights, running water or bathroom facility. A bed was made of two cinder blocks with a sheet of plywood on top,” said deputies in a report.

In an incident report obtained by the Columbus Dispatch, the girl’s mother referred to her daughter’s placement as “only sometimes discipline.”

She also said she believed she’d be OK because it’s the summer.

Her father pleaded not guilty Friday to third-degree felonies of child endangerment and intimidation and misdemeanor charges of telephone harassment and menacing.

His wife also pleaded not guilty to child endangerment.

The girl and her brother were both removed from the couple’s custody and into the custody of Child Protective Services.”

Ohio couple arrested after teen daughter forced to live in shed, sleep on cinderblocks: deputies[NY Daily News 9/15/14 by Nina Golgowski]

Is the brother adopted?Do they still have parental rights to him?

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