How Could You? Hall of Shame-Jeffrey and Barbara Barrett 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 Greenville, Texas, adoptive parents “Jeffery and Barbara Barrett of Greenville were arrested by Texas Department of Public Safety officers Aug. 2 and charged with continuous human trafficking, according to an agency spokesman. ”

“Five North Texas children were beaten and forced by their adoptive parents to care for more than 100 animals in filthy conditions at a puppy mill being run behind their home, authorities say.”

“Both were already awaiting trial on animal-cruelty charges.”

“Officials began investigating the children’s welfare shortly after the Barretts were arrested last year, Marissa Gonzalez of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said.

The children have been in Child Protective Service custody since September [2017], when Hunt County officials seized 117 animals from the family’s home on County Road 3103.

Many of the animals, most of which were dogs and puppies, were kept in filthy conditions in a metal addition behind the home, according to the SPCA of Texas, which was involved in the animals’ seizure. The Barretts told officials that they bred the puppies to sell.

Now, officials are alleging that the Barretts took their five children — two girls and three boys ages 12 to 17 — out of public school and forced them to care for the animals. The children all had been adopted from California.

The children told authorities that the Barretts hit them with plywood, bamboo sticks and brushes, according to arrest-warrant affidavits obtained by the Greenville Herald-Banner. Four of them had “marks, bruises and open wounds in different stages of healing,” officials observed.

“This is one of [the first cases] — if not the first case — involving child labor trafficking in the state of Texas,” said Deputy Criminal Chief Kirsta Leeburg Melton, who leads a unit in the Texas attorney general’s office dedicated to combating human trafficking.

The Barretts are being held at the Hunt County jail, with bail set at $650,000 each, a DPS spokesman said.”

Texas couple accused of using adopted children as slave labor to run puppy mill

[Dallas News 8/9/18 by Amanda Jesse]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: Barbara Barrett “has been found guilty of abusing her adopted children and forcing them to work in a puppy mill.

Barbara Barrett was charged with continuous trafficking of persons and was sentenced to 99 years, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced today.

The Greenville woman along with her husband Jeffery were accused of abusing the adopted children “while forcing them to work in a puppy mill attached to their home.”

Greenville Woman Found Guilty Of Abusing Adopted Kids, Forcing Them To Work In A Puppy Mill

[CBS DFW 9/23/21]