How Could You? Hall of Shame -Dwayne and Pam Hardy-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 Altamonte Springs, Florida, adoptive parents Dwayne Hardy, 50, and Pam Hardy, 47, went on trial on June 14, 2011. Dwayne was charged with neglecting his 10-year-old adopted son and 7-year-old adopted daughter. Pam faces aggravated child abuse and neglect charges. Pam was a stay-at-home mom who had raised four biological children before adopting a son and then this sibling group that she met at a vacation bible school. Pam homeschooled the adopted children.

The boy testified via closed-circuit camera that the couple “spanked him bare bottomed until he bled then would spank him again before those wounds healed, leaving scars.” He also testified that he was punished “by not giving him meals.”

“By the time child welfare investigators got involved, the boy and his younger sister, also adopted, were gaunt, had permanent scars on their bottoms and had hands that were swollen and marked from blows from a wooden spoon.”

“According to the boy, “Miss Pam” was the primary abuser. She was the one who most often spanked him, the one who pulled open his mouth with her fingers when he wouldn’t talk, the one who refused him meals when he forgot to feed the dog or when she caught him sneaking food out of the garbage can.

The boy was often hungry, he said.

“They would call me greedy because I would want more,” he testified.

Pam Hardy is to stand trial separately. She was in the courtroom this morning before the trial began then disappeared.”

Dwayne’s lawyer “told jurors that Dwayne Hardy had not neglected the boy or his sister.
The worst of the abuse took place while his client was at work, Akbar said. Dwayne Hardy did whip the boy with a belt once, Akbar said, and drew blood. He then examined the boy to see why and discovered severe bruising from earlier spankings. He saw something similar on the girl.

The defendant then challenged his wife of 29 years, telling her to stop spanking them with a wooden paddle, which the family called “the Law”.

His client believed she had.”

“The boy remembered things differently. He said after Dwayne Hardy whipped him with the belt and saw blood on it, “He said I ruined his belt.”

Several weeks later, Akbar said Dwayne Hardy saw that the girl’s hands were swollen and bruised. He confronted his wife again, Akbar told jurors, telling her, “You can’t put your hands on my kids anymore.”

A short time later, someone anonymously called a state child abuse hotline. When an investigator went to the house, said Assistant State Attorney Stacey Salmons, the woman discovered two gaunt, scarred children.”

The boy testified that he and his sister suffer from PTSD. “[H]is therapist testified that he’d be traumatized if he had to tell a jury what happened to him while the Hardys were in the room.”

“His little sister testified in open court this afternoon, saying that Miss Pam sometimes punished her by making her do pushups. One time, after the little girl had grown too weary to do more, Miss Pam pushed her back to the ground, causing her to fracture a tooth.”

10-year-old boy: My adoptive parents spanked me until I bled, kept me away from food
[Orlando Sentinel 6/14/11 by Rene Stutzman]

“Pamela Hardy bit the little girl and on one occasion, broke her tooth, according to the formal charges against her.”

“She also stretched open their mouths with her fingers, pinched them and deprived them of food and sleep, authorities say.”

“When they were arrested in August, they also were caring for a 9-year-old boy who they had adopted as a toddler.

He was well nourished and showed no signs of abuse, according to authorities.

Neighbors said the Hardys were a church-going family from whom they saw no signs of abuse.”
Jury selection begins for adoptive father charged with child neglect
[Sun Sentinel 6/13/11 by rene Stutzman]

2010 Articles

The siblings “were the center of attention this year during a Valentine’s Day-themed mass adoption in Orlando.

They had been through so much, officials said. After being taken away from their parents because of abuse, they spent two years in a foster home.”

“Photos of them taken by a professional photographer were featured last year in Heart Gallery, a traveling exhibition of children available for adoption through Family Services of Metro Orlando. A south Seminole County couple stepped forward to adopt them.

After about four months of living as a family, that status was made official Feb. 12.

Now the children, scarred and bruised from being beaten and malnourished, are back in a foster home, and their parents of six months are facing charges of torturing them.

Dwayne Hardy, 49, and Pamela Hardy, 46, were arrested Wednesday on two counts each of cruelty toward a child involving torture punishment. They were released from the Seminole County Jail in Sanford early Thursday after each posted $7,100 bail.

On arrest reports, Dwayne Hardy was listed as a driver for UPS, and Pamela Hardy was listed as unemployed. A sheriff’s spokeswoman said Pamela Hardy was homeschooling the children.”

“A physician’s assistant who examined the children found evidence of scarring and bruising and told investigators her findings suggest “elements of torture and a wanton disregard for the safety and well-being of the children,” according to information in arrest affidavits released Thursday.

The girl, now 6, told investigators with Child Protective Services at the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office that sometimes she would ask for more food and would be told she was “being greedy,” and then would have to miss her next meal.

She said when nobody was looking she would eat out of the garbage, according to the reports.”

“The boy, now 9, was severely malnourished, Seminole County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Kim Cannaday said. “His face looked sunken,” she said. The girl also was malnourished, but to a lesser extent, she said.”

“A third child in the home, a boy who will soon turn 10, showed no signs of abuse, she said. His relationship to the Hardys was not clear Thursday. Cannaday said he may have been adopted as an infant but that he was not placed in the home by DCF.

The boy, who did not complain of being mistreated, is being cared for by relatives, Cannaday said.

‘The Law’ of the paddle

The brother and sister who were adopted this year told investigators they were beaten with a wooden spoon and belt and with a paddle that their parents called “The Law.”

Deputies confiscated a paddle and a wooden spoon from the home on West Citrus Street near Altamonte Springs on Tuesday, the same day the children were removed, according to arrest reports. The paddle appeared to have dried blood on it, according to arrest reports.”

“The children told investigators that besides being deprived food, another form of punishment was being forced to do push-ups and jumping jacks. The girl said that if she stopped before she was told, she would be in more trouble.

The boy said he received as many as 55 swats with the paddle at one time, according to the report. He said he was forced to squat and bounce, and each time he stopped his mother would add five “licks,” according to the report.

He told investigators if he was caught sneaking food he would be forced to miss meals, sometimes all three meals in a day, the report said.”

Parents accused of torturing adopted children
[Orlando Sentinel 8/12/10 by Gary Taylor]

“”I saw one kid’s hands all bruised,” said Kevin Vega, who used to play with with the 9-year-old boy. “He told me his mom hit him with a paddle.”

Neighbor Yanina Miolan said she witnessed Pamela Hardy punish the 6-year-old girl by forcing the child do calisthentics.

“Her mom would make her do jumping jacks,” said Miolan. “And while she did jumping jacks she had to say sorry to her.”
Adoptive Parents Charged With Child Cruelty
[Click Orlando 8/12/10]

Update: “The stay-at-home Altamonte Springs mother accused of starving her two adoptive children and spanking them until they bled pleaded no contest Wednesday to abusing and neglecting them.

Pamela Hardy, 47, a church-going, God-loving mother who homeschooled the children, faces a minimum of 11 years in prison and a maximum of 70, according to prosecutors.

She got no plea deal, according to Assistant State Attorney Stacey Salmons. Last week, the defendant’s husband, Dwayne Hardy, 50, was convicted by a Seminole County jury of two counts of child neglect.

She faced harsher charges: two counts of aggravated child abuse plus two counts of child neglect.

Husband and wife are to be sentenced Aug. 1 by Circuit Judge Jessica Recksiedler.”

“Pamela Hardy met a darling, bubbly 6-year-old girl at vacation Bible school. The child had a 10-year-old brother, and they were living in a foster home. The Hardys decided to adopt both.
Each child, though, had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ran out of medication, and the Hardys never bought more.

The children testified at Dwayne Hardy’s trial that “Miss Pam” was the chief disciplinarian and spanked them bare bottomed with a wooden paddle, leaving life-long scars.

The children have dark skin, but photos revealed their bottoms had been so damaged, each no longer had skin pigment over the right cheek.

Those same photos showed red scars or scabs on their bottoms — recent wounds.

The children also testified that Miss Pam sometimes spanked the palms of their hands with a wooden or metal spoon. Photos of the boy’s hands showed them covered with red gashes.

The boy also testified that if he forgot to feed the dog or somehow misbehaved, Miss Pam often denied him meals.

Both children told investigators they were so hungry they sometimes pulled food from the garbage pail.”

Altamonte Springs adoptive mom enters child-abuse plea
[Orlando Sentinel 6/22/11 by Rene Stutzman]

Update 2: “Pamela and Dwayne Hardy were accused of starving and paddling a 9-year-old boy and 6-year-old girl, who they had adopted.

A jury convicted Dwayne Hardy in June, but Pamela Hardy pleaded no contest to both neglect and aggravated child abuse.

“The state seems to be insinuating that Dwayne and Pamela Hardy had some kind of heinous plan to hurt children. These injuries were from consistent discipline,” the attorney of Dwayne Hardy said.

A jury found Dwayne Hardy guilty of neglecting his adopted children, shortly before his wife pleaded no contest to both neglect and aggravated child abuse of the two children.

The couple brought the two children into their Altamonte Springs home in 2010. On Monday, the Hardys were back in court to learn their punishment, but not before Dwayne Hardy took the witness stand.

“Absolutely, I’m remorseful. When we decided to go forward with the adoption of these children, it was our intention to enhance their lives,” said Dwayne Hardy.

Prosecutors said that’s not what happened. Both the children, who suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, were taken off their medication and disciplined through a combination of dietary changes and corporal punishment.

Prosecutors said that the result came to the children eating from the trash. The children’s current foster mother, who WFTV will not identify to protect her kids, read two short statements from the children.

“I’ve had nightmares every night and I hate it. Mrs. Hardy spanked me everyday until blood splattered on the walls,” the foster mother read.

The judge sentenced Dwayne Hardy to two years and Pamela Hardy to 11 years in prison.”

Accused Abusive Adoptive Parents Sentenced
[WFTV 8/1/11]

Update 2: “Pamela Hardy did not testify Monday. Instead, she wrote the judge a long letter.”

“Although she and her husband were already grandparents, they decided to adopt the child and her nine-year-old brother. There was a third sibling, an older brother, but he had “anger issues” so they adopted only the younger two, she wrote.

The Hardys tried to manage the children with the same techniques they’d used with their four biological children and a 10-year-old boy they had adopted as an infant, but that didn’t work, she wrote.

From the start, the boy pulled food from the garbage can. He also lied and stole things from stores, she wrote. The little girl, although six years old, had toileting issues, Pam Hardy wrote.

“We had no idea what awaited us,” she wrote.”

“Photos of the children showed permanent scars on their bottoms and marks on their hands. The boy was so thin from a lack of food his skin was ashen and his ribs stuck out, according to evidence.

The little girl had a broken front tooth from when “Miss Pam” made her do push-ups then banged her head on the ground because the child wasn’t doing them correctly, the girl testified.

The children spent nine months with the Hardys before someone tipped off authorities and they were rescued.

Both are still the Hardys’ legal children. The state, though, is trying to terminate their parental rights and has placed them with a foster mother who wants to adopt them.”

Prison-bound adoptive mom: I never meant to hurt kids
[Orlando Sentinel 8/4/11 by Rene Stutzman]

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