How Could You? Hall of Shame-Stephen Bauer and Megan Finlan 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 Omaha, Nebraska, “authorities say a 7-year-old boy was found weighing just 32 pounds. His foster parents, Stephen Bauer and Megan Finlan, plead no contest to 5 counts of negligent child abuse resulting in serious injury in Douglas County District Court on Wednesday.
In November 2015, Florence Elementary School staff reported that the boy was underweight and had bruises on his body.
Finlan and Bauer admitted to not feeding the boy as punishment for perceived bad behavior. He wouldn’t get dinner for up to 3 days, and would also be locked in his room without being allowed to use the bathroom.
“She (Finlan) indicated she didn’t think they did so for more than 3 days at a time and when she would then try to feed him a lot of food to compensate he would throw up as a result. She stated during her interview that she knew it had gone too far,” Douglas Co. Deputy Prosecutor Molly Keane told the judge.
Since he weighed 32 pound, the boy has gained 14 pounds, grown 2 1/2 inches, and is happy with a new family. Douglas Co. Attorney Don Kleine says they hope the boy can move past this torment.
“It’s unimaginable. Thankfully the child is thriving, doing well now. But it’s hard to believe that someone could do something like this to a child,” Kleine explained.
Kleine says for these amended charges they will seek the maximum of 25 years in prison.
Finlan and Bauer refused to answer questions after court.”
Foster parents plead no contest for starving boy
[3 News Now 7/20/17 by Jane Wasikowski]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update:“Shannon Foster held up the clothes her recently adopted son wore on his 8th birthday nearly two years ago — the first day she and her husband took care of the boy.
The 32-pound boy was dirty, with decayed teeth, a bloated stomach and bruises on his arms and legs.
The striped T-shirt and blue jeans Foster held were tiny enough to fit a 3-year-old.
“He looked like a starving child from those commercials about feeding the children,” prosecutor Molly Keane said Friday in court. “These are people that were supposed to care for him, love him and, at a minimum, provide for his basic needs, which they completely failed to do.”
The former adoptive parents of the boy, Stephen Bauer, 39, and Megan Finlan, 34, were sentenced Friday to five to 10 years in prison on five counts of negligent child abuse.
They had pleaded no contest in July to amended charges and faced up to 15 years in prison.
Douglas County District Judge Marlon Polk said Friday that he was “aghast” when he saw the photos of the malnourished boy.
“Who does that?” he said before delivering the sentence. “There are cases that keep you up at night. And this is one of them.”
Authorities have said the couple locked the boy in his room, leaving him to urinate and defecate on the floor.
No photos of the adopted boy were on display around the house, officials said, but there were many photos of the couple’s four biological children.
Their 4-year-old child told police that the boy was told to sit in the corner and wasn’t allowed to eat.
At Fontenelle Elementary School he was so hungry, he licked other students’ plates clean and dug through trash cans to find food.
Teachers and students did what they could to comfort the boy and seek help. Foster, a second-grade teacher at the school, first noticed him in first grade. He often wore a classmate’s pink leopard sweatshirt because he was freezing cold.
Foster and her husband, Jimmie, eventually decided to take him into their home.
Matthew Kahler, Finlan’s attorney, claimed the boy had behavioral problems and said the parents attempted to solve them by taking him to experts.
“The situation was where (Finlan) wasn’t able to meet his needs after years of trying,” he said.
But Keane doubted that it was wholly coincidental that the boy gained weight, grew a foot taller and was happier with his new family.
“He has a new home, where he gets fed, where he gets love — things that were completely lacking in that home,” Keane said.
The boy, now 9 years old and in third grade, had to relearn many skills — how to socialize, how to brush his teeth, how to use toilet paper.
He’s performing at grade level for math and nearly there for reading.
“He’s doing great now. Now he acts like a 9-year-old,” Jimmie Foster said, adding that the boy likes to stay up and watch his favorite TV shows.
But the pain is still there. Doctors have diagnosed the boy with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“He’ll see little things and be reminded of something that happened to him all the time,” Shannon Foster said.
The Fosters became the boy’s official parents in May and will continue to focus on his well-being.
“We’ll work on healing him and making him a better person,” Jimmie Foster said.”
[Omaha World Herald 9/18/17 by Alia Conley]
I am the cousin of Megan. The worst part of this is I had been reporting the abuse for 3 years before they got caught this story is so much more sick and sadistic than the public knows. I would be happy to shed more light after sentencing as I don’t want the judge to feel social media has tainted the facts
3 years? Wow! After there sentencing, I would like to hear the rest of their story.
The first time I met “the boy” his name was Artic, He ran up to husband and I and said excitedly ” Hi my name is Adric and I am 4. Megan quickly shoved him away from us and said “nobody gives a F#$k who you are” and my husband quickly replied I care who he is. That night there were several incidents where Megan would state how much she hated Adric, how ugly and stupid he was and that she couldn’t wait until he was 8 yrs old so she could get rid of him ( all of this being said right in front of him) apperantly when Adric was 2 he hit her Biological child with a toy and from that day forward Megan hated him. Adric was adopted by Megan at just a few months old, her brother Tracy Finland was believed to be Adrics Bio Dad and had abused him as an infant resulting in a scull fracture broken ribs and a broken arm. Megan went to the hospital in tears ” concerned for Adric” Stephen ( Megan’s husband )working for CPS made the adoption go smoothly. After Adric hit their son that one time, Megan expressed to the adoption worker that she no longer wanted Adric, and she was told that per her contract she could not give him up until he was 8 and that’s when it began. Her Mother was with her all day everyday, and when confronted about Megan’s abuse told me that it was none of my business and I have no idea how manipulative Adric is. My son’s s 10th Birthday, my husband was handing out cake to the kids, and somehow Adric got over looked, so he approached my husband and politely asked for a piece of cake. My husband started to cut a piece as Megan walked up, put her hand over Adrics face, shoved him to the ground and said ” you’re not getting any f@#$ing cake” she immediately said and I don’t give a s&it what any of you think as they left, before that I saw Megan’s bio son (who is quite a bit bigger than Adric ) sitting on him and beating him viciously. When I said to Megan that he was hurting Adric, Megan coldy said ” that’s what he gets for being a pussy” I immediately stopped him and from that day I was never allowed around. I was disowned for reporting Megan. They are both in Community corrections where they are released every weekend on furlough. Megan’s Mother ( my aunt) picks her up where they go get their nails done, go shopping and get “pampered” they were not punished for their crime, infact Megan blames me and Adric for them getting in trouble. I recently found out that the people who adopted Megan’s 4 kids will be giving them back to Megan when she is released. This girl from a small child up to today is pure evil, she never has had to face consequences and never will.