How Could You? Hall of Shame-Deborah Ann Jarrell

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 Mrytle Beach, South Carolina, a “foster mother from South Carolina has been arrested on a neglect charge involving a six-year-old who police say was forced to wear an electric dog collar and endured months-long physical abuse.  

Deborah Ann Jarrell, 61, of Myrtle Beach, was arrested Wednesday and charged with unlawful neglect of a child.

A Horry County police incident report says a representative with the Children’s Recovery Center contacted police after a forensic interview with the child in October.

According to the report cited by Myrtle Beach Online, the representative provided documentation saying that the victim was made to wear an electric dog collar and was hit with a spoon-like object between January and July.

Jarrell remained jailed at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center of Horry County as of Thursday evening on $2,500 bond.

Social media posts suggest that Jarrell is originally from West Virginia and is reitred. [sic]

Her Facebook page reveals that the 61-year-old has a grown daughter and a grandson.

It is unclear how Jarrell came to foster the six-year-old, whose gender was not immediately reported.

Photos from 2016 show what appears to be a boys’ bedroom with a Spiderman-themed bunkbeds.   ”
Foster mother ‘made a six-year-old wear an electric dog collar and abused the child for seven months’

[Daily Mail 11/30/18 by AP and Snejana Farberov]

“A foster parent is out on bond after, police said, she abused a 6 year old child.”

“You can become a foster parent through the South Carolina Youth Advocate Program or DSS.
Becoming a DSS foster parent can be a lengthy process that can take up to 4 months. Potential foster parents are first put through orientation to make sure this is something they can handle.

“Any child that comes into foster care, I don’t care how they come into foster care, they’ve been traumatized,” said Anna Skipper, the director of training for the South Carolina Foster Parent Association.

DSS then runs criminal background checks on potential foster parents. Social workers come out and do home studies, and fire marshalls inspect the home. Prospective foster parents must also submit health records to DSS.

“If you have a child in your home you’re going to have a licensing worker coming in, the child welfare worker, guardian ad litem coming, and all of the different players,” said Skipper.

The state requires 14 hours of pre service training. Once someone becomes a foster parent, they have to earn 28 hours of training credit every two years to maintain their license.

“We talk about trauma and child development. We have case scenarios that we work through with the families and how would they deal with this if it was happening in their home,” said Skipper.

DSS said Horry County needs 150 more foster families.”

News 13 looks into the foster care vetting process

[WBTW 11/30/18 by Julie Calhoun]

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