Happy New Year 2012: Thoughts on Adoption and New York City on New Year's Eve

I am a New York City person.  I  know this  for a fact, not only because I love Manhattan and feel at home there, but all of the theatre people I know in the city tell me I belong there.

Unfortunately, my life in the Big Apple was hijacked before I was born.  My birthparents were inconvenient enough to have spawned me in a "tourist cabin" on the back Akron-Massillon Road (or someplace like that) and my adoptive parents, thoughtless of my needs, remained in Ohio. My amom, though, for reasons known only to her, decided I should be a copywriter or a graphic artist, neither of which I had much talent for. If I'd followed her command you'd be watching me, not Peggy Olsen on Mad Men--unless I decided to play out a Ronna Jaffe career girl and throw myself out a window or take bottle of Seconal after being used by Don Draper.  It didn't help that I decided to get married when I did, cutting short any chance of ever having a real life. That last sentence is stupid, of course, but that's how I thought back then..

What does this have to do with New Year's Eve?

Every year I try to post a relevant New Year video--preferably old.--and Christmas and New Year for me has always been about New York City. That probably comes from watching The Today Show window crowd at Rockefeller Plaza every morning before I went to school. BTW, one of my unmet goals in life is to dine in the Rainbow Room, but it's gone now..   My parents always did that when they went to New York--except when they took me. Then, it was Sardi's and the Latin Quarter. Talk about ungrateful!

Anyway, this year I had problem finding something suitable for ringing  in 2012, until I came across this  rare video of Guy Lombardo's appearance on the (live from New York) December 31, 1950 What's My Line.   He must have run over to CBS during a break from the Roosevelt Grill, another place I fantasized about.  The very name sounds so sophisticated. I prefer, the older version.  A good place to meet William Powell..

The What's My Line  panel  61 years ago tonight was an All-Star New York lineup:  Betty Furness Arlene Francis, Garry Moore (all of whom people of a certain age should remember), and as a special treat, the poet and critic Louis Untermeyer. Who says TV wasn't smart back then?  (Actually the show had quite a few smart panelists!) I had no idea Untermeyer was a What's My Line regular--or on TV at all, having spent my formative years with his replacement Bennett Cerf who made me useless for any  publisher other than Random House. Untermyer was later forced off the show by commie-hunters and commie-hating sponsors, despite a strong, protracted defense by  Goodson- Todman. Gotta watch those poets!

OK, I've rattled on long enough, and as soon as I post this I'm going back to living vicariously through What's My Line.  Happy New Year!  I'd like to say the new year has to be better than 2011, but I won't count on it . Let's do try, though!

Lombardo is on the first half of this video, followed by a civilian who makes seltzer.

I suppose taking a 17-year old to the Latin Quarter would be grounds for endangerment charges today .

US Adoption's Dirty Little Secret: US Babies Exported Worldwide

America's dirty little adoption secret (which one?) is out , but nobody is paying much attention.

Last month the US Department of State issued the 2011 FY 2001 Annual Report on Intercountry Adoption.  It's only five pages long but full of "interesting" bick-a-brac  Within the stats we learn than 73 US citizen children were adopted out of country; that is, they've, as State quaintly calls it,."emigrated" to another country via adoption.  The largest receiving country is Canada with 31; the second is the Netherlands with  27.. It gets better:  the largest sending state is Florida with 49 little Floridians packing their diaper bags for other parts of the world, . The second largest sending state is South Carolina with 12--all heading for Canada..  These two states far outstrip other states in outgoing shipments.

I got curious, so I went back and found reports for 2009 and 2010 and found even more alarming figures  The number of American children  removed, renamed, and remodeled  abroad has more than quintupled  in three years, from 26 in the 2009 report to142 in the 2011 report. (According to the 2009 report these figures go from October 1, 2008-September 30, 2009.  The other reports don't give a FY date, but I assume  this is it.for each report).  The statistics. include all children  no matter if the receiving county is a signatory to the Hague or not. I believe these figures are low, but they are the "official numbers."

I made a chart showing numbers, receiving countries, and sending states. If I were a pap on a waiting list, I'd be pretty peeved at this. I'm not a pap, but I am.anyway.

RECEIVING COUNTRY	2009 REPORT Sending state	2010 REPORT Sending state	2011 REPORT Sending state	TOTAL
Austria	New York - 1 TOTAL; 1	Florida - 1 TOTAL: 1	Florida - 1 TOTAL: 1	Florida -2 New York - 1  TOTAL 3
Canada	Florida – 1 Nevada – 1 South Carolina – 2 Utah - 1 TOTAL: 5	California – 1 Florida – 12 South Carolina – 5 Texas - 1 TOTAL: 19	Florida – 18 Nevada – 1 South Carolina - 12 TOTAL: 31	California – 1 Florida- 31 Nevada – 2 South Carolina - 19 Texas - 1   Utah - 1  TOTAL: 55
Curacao			Florida - 1 TOTAL: 1	Florida - 1 TOTAL: 1
Germany	California – 1 TOTAL: 1	New Jersey - 2 TOTAL: 2	New Jersey - 2 TOTAL: 2	California – 1 New Jersey - 4 TOTAL: 5
Ireland			Florida -5 TOTAL 5	Florida - 5 TOTAL: 5
Mexico			California - 1	California - 1 TOTAL: 1
Netherlands	California – 1 Florida – 13 Indiana – 1 New York - 2 TOTAL: 17	California – 1 Florida – 13 New Jersey – 1 New York - 3 TOTAL: 18	California – 1 Florida – 21 Kansas – 1 New Jersey – 2 Pennsylvania – 1 Texas - 1 TOTAL: 27	California – 3 Florida – 47 Indiana – 1 Kansas – 1 New Jersey – 3 New York –5 Pennsylvania – 1 Texas - 1 TOTAL: 62
Spain			Florida - 1 TOTAL: 1	Florida - 1 TOTAL: 1
South Africa		Nevada - 1 TOTAL: 1		Nevada - 1 TOTAL; 1
Switzerland			California – 1 Florida – 1 TOTAL: 2	California – 1 Florida - 1 TOTAL: 2
UK	Florida – 2 TOTAL: 2	Florida – 1 New Jersey - 1 TOTAL: 2	Florida – 1 Texas - 1 TOTAL: 2	Florida –4 New Jersey – 1 Texas - 1 TOTAL: 6
TOTAL	26	43	73	142

The US to Canada pipeline is no surprise. We already know that some  US agencies specialize (or at least did a few years ago) in placing African-American or transracial children in Canada, but we can't help but wonder who's doing it since the Hague kicked in, and it's a little more difficult (in theory)  to transport American children across country lines for purposes of adoption.

People Magazine ran an feature in 2005, Why are American Babies Being Adopted Abroad? in which two sending agencies were identified as sending children to Canada, but neither of them were in Florida or South Carolina.. In  February 2009, 60 Minutes ran a news feature Born in the US: Adopted in Canada  Lesley Stahl reported

one Florida adoption agency sent more than half its black infants out of the country last year. No one keeps count, but 60 Minutes was told it could involve as many as 500 children a year.
 
The agency wasn't identified, but immediately afterward Stahl segued into an  interview with Walter O Gilbert, identified as the CEO of The Open Door, a "Florida adoption agency" that placed a lot of black children in Canada.  Checks of the Georgia and Florida Secretary of State records indicate that the agency is incorporated in both states, but its main office is in Thomasville, Georgia, on the state line about 30 miles north of Tallahassee. It's 800 number is advertised in numerous online Florida directories.

From 60 Minutes:


Walter Gilbert, CEO of The Open Door, views these adoptions as a "win-win" situation for the children, and he has strong opinions about why. "Especially in Canada, people are just color blind," says Gilbert. "That's been our experience. We would tend to tell them [birth mothers] that our experience has been there's less prejudice. They know what they experience here."

For the record, this is the same agency that placed Russian adoptee Jacob Lindorff with his Forever Parents Heather and James Lindoroff who later beat and starved him to death, but walked on 2nd degree assault and child endangerment.  James Lindoroff is presently doing 7 years for a murder-for-hire scheme to kill a prosecution witness during his trial.

There is no indication on the current Open Door website that it is still doing business in Canada.

After an extensive Internet search  to find what agencies today are exporting American kids, I've come up with nothing except for Florida.  There, it appears, but I can't say with certainty, that Adoption by Shepherd Care, is the sending agency.

Shepherd Care had quite a Canadian business pre-Hague, (original no longer online).  According to an October 27,  2004 Christian Science Monitor article, Born in America; Adopted Abroad, 90% of the agency's African American babies were adopted in Canada. Currently, its webpage doesn't advertise Canadian placement services, but indicates it has a Canadian coordinator. I  found a post-Hague Shepherd Care handbook online in pdf form,, but not, as far as I can tell, from the ASC website,  It says that the agency is committed to serving Canadians who want to adopt from the US.  I can't get a good link for this, but you can find it by searching  for "Adoption by  Shepherd Care, Canada" and clicking on "Adoption Canada."

Finally, Christian Adoption Services, in Calgary, Alberta says that the procedure for US-Canada placements  hasvechanged drastically since the US implement the Hague, and suggests that Canadians interested in initiating a placement contact Shepherd Care:

When considering this option, always ask the US agency that you are considering, whether they have the authority to place children out of the United States.  Families have had success working with: Adoption by Shepherd Care, Inc. Florida 954-981-2060 www.adoptionshepherdcare.com  and with Adoption attorney James Fletcher Thompson 864-573-5533 jfthompson@thompsonlawfirm.net. We will update this information with other US agencies as we determine which agencies are able to assist Albertan families.

This may all be moot soon, since the State of Florida is attempting to shut down Shepherd Care. after complaints were filed over coercive behavior against birthparents.


None of this,though explains South Carolina or the Netherlands.or those odd placements in Ireland.As for Texas, Gladeny admitted years ago that is places in Europe.

I put some feelers out to people who follow these things.  None of them had any idea who's running  kids, but I did get a couple leads.  It will take awhile to dig, so in the meantime, I 'm posting this news for informational purposes and in the hope that somebody reading this has some suggestions.

NOTE:  Currently, American children, even under the Hague agreement, can be adopted internationally, but with the consent of the biological parents only. Some children  in DOS stats may be kinship placements.  I am highly suspicious though, of 5 children being placed in Ireland out of Florida, and of course, the high number of kids general  from Florida and South Carolina.

Merry Christmas Bastards!

Merry Christmas or whatever you're doing,to all my bastard buddies and readers.  You're the best!

There's an adoptee message in this too - sorta. Love the Baby Box--and Kate Smith!

Ivan Skorobogatov : Cravers Lose Appeal

The Cravaers were back on court this week . Both courts.  The results were as expected.

Wednesday morning, York County Common Pleas Court Judge John S Kennedy, who presided at their trial, denied separate appeals from the Cravers for retrials. The couple, who earlier escaped death penalty specs, was tried for murder, but convicted on lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of child endangerment, and conspiracy.  They appealed their case on the flimsy grounds that their convictions were "against the weight of the evidence." The Cravers were charged in the death of their adoptive son Vanya  Skorobogatov  who died of severe beatings and malnutrition  in 2009. In their appeals, the couple argued that with their convictions and probations hanging over their heads, they can't find work and have been forced to move in with friends.  Michael Craver is reportedly an Air Force veteran and an engineer by profession..

Thrown into the pot (which I'd not seen published  before) was the couple's request that their court costs of nearly $100,000 be cut  half.

Some people just don't' know when to quit.when they're ahead.

I disagreed with the flop to involuntary manslaughter and the wrist-slap sentence.  I thought Judge Kennedy equivocated when he said the verdict was appropriate and just.  But he stuck it to the Cravers this time.  It's too bad there's no online transcript.  .From the York Dispatch, Cravers' manslaugahter convictions stand, judge won't reduce $98K court costs,"

Cravers' former home where Vanya was killed

 Kennedy said he wished state law would allow him to order the Cravers to pay the costs of their defense as well. 

But because the Cravers were represented by public defenders and court-appointed counsel, they cannot be billed for defense fees, chief deputy prosecutor Tim Barker said. 

"The taxpayers of York County should be reimbursed" for defense costs, as well as prosecution costs, Kennedy said. He noted the Cravers have earning potential, unlike many other defendants who will never be able to pay off their court costs. 

Defense attorneys declined to say how much defense fees totaled, and that information is not available to the public. 

I'm surprised that the public defender costs aren't public information.  They should be.  After all, the public paid the bill. Over 30 years ago I was part of a defense team in a successful  capital murder appeal in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Our costs were around $100,000 in 1978 money.  It should have twice that, but a good part of the work was  pro bono and the defendant went pro se.   The state's cost was over $200,000 and came close to busting the county prosecutor's bank account. Of course, if the Cravers had been able to hire their own lawyers the costs would have taken them on a trip to Mars, and they might have gotten a worse.deal. . They got off cheap and lucky and should be happy.

The Dispatch doesn't mention what the Cravers plan to do now, but the next step, if they pursue it, would  be to take their appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

Hours before the Cravers were in York County Common Pleas Court crying  innocent, and poor, the Moscow City Court was busy upholding an earlier ruling refusing to  issue an Interpol arrest warrant on the couple to haul them back to Moscow for a show trial.  The article which appears in different forms from RIA Novosti and  the Russian Legal Inforamtion Agency  (scroll down and hit link) is awkwardly translated in English, and leaves a big hole in the story.  According to both sources, though,  the court also dismissed an appeal filed by Vanya's aunt. This is the first time we've heard of an aunt trying to bring charges.

 

Vaclav Havel, 1936-2011: He Had Things to Tell Us If We'll Listen

Vaclav Havel, playwright, dissident, former Czech president  died today at the age of 75. His obituary is all over the media. My favorites are the Christian Science Monitor's, Vaclav Havel:  Remembering the Czech President, Playwright, and Peacenik   David Remnick's, Postscript: Vlaclav Havel, 1936-2011 in the New Yorker online.

I have always believed there is a seamless line between art and politics (excluding Hollywood hacks, HuffPo progs, and Thomas Kinkade). I'm not sure if art or poliltics came first for me, but they have always been one in the other.  Mississippi Freedom Riders, Tuli Kupferberg, Yippie! the early Yoko Ono, Merce Cunningham, Charlotte Moorman, Norman Mailer, Gene McCarthy,  Gore Vidal, Beckett, Ionesco, Big Bill Haywood, The Velvet Underground, Randolph Bourne, Gilbert Seldes, Alfred Nock.  Even Thomas Jeffrerson and Beethoven are part and parcel of my political package tied up in a big red ribbon by Emma Goldman. So, it's not strange that I came to Havel through theatre, not politics.  I'm hardly an expert on him so I won't try to write about him.  I want, however, to post a couple things--or rather point you to them. 

I am particularity fond of Havel's essay,  Totalitarianism  and Stories,  (April 1987), which weaves art and politics--the "story"and its negation--or as Havel calls it, its nihilization--in the totalitarian state  For those of us who have lived under a totalitarianism,  (even as I did in its death throes in the Soviet Union) his essay makes perfect sense. Important for us, is the essay's  relevancy to the corpo United States today.  On the micro level, it is relevant to adoptee rights and how and why the corporate state and its special interests hold on to its control of our documents and identities. It's what happens when nothing is left for them to do  Remember that: when there is nothing else for them to do . They've lost.  

I'm tempted to post the whole essay here, but it's too long for a comfortable blog, and there may be copyright issues.  Instead I'll excerpt a little bit below with a link  to the English translation.

Havel wrote: 

Visitors from the West are often shocked to find that for Czechs, Chernobyl and AIDS are not a source of horror, but rather a subject for jokes.

I must admit this doesn't surprise me. Because totalitarian nihilization is utterly immaterial, it is less visible, more present, and more dangerous than the AIDS virus or radioactivity from Chernobyl. On the other hand, it touches each of us more intimately and more urgently and even, in a sense, more physically, than either AIDS or radiation, since we all know it from everyday, personal experience and not just from news~ papers and television. Is it any wonder, then, that the less menacing, less insidious, and less intimate threats are relegated to the background and made light of?

There is another reason for the triumph of invisibility. The destruction of the story means the destruction of a basic instrument of human knowledge and self-knowledge. Totalitarian nihilization denies people the possibility of observing and understanding its processes "from outside." There are only two alternatives: either you experience it directly, or you know nothing about it. This menace permits no public reference to itself.

and 

Totalitarian power brought bureaucratic order into the living disorder of history and thus effectively anesthetized it. In a sense, the government nationalized time. Thanks to that, time encountered the same sad fate as many other nationalized entities: it began to wither away.

As I've said, the revolutionary ethos in Czechoslovakia has long since vanished. We are no longer governed by fanatics, revolutionaries, or ideological zealots. The country is administered by faceless bureaucrats who profess adherence to a revolutionary ideology, but look out only for themselves, and no longer believe in anything. The original ideology has become a formalized ritual that gives them legitimacy in space and time, and provides them with a language for internal communication.

Oddly enough, it is only recently that this ideology has begun to bear its most important fruit, to manifest its deepest consequences.

How are we to explain this?

Simply: by the age and the deeply conservative (in the sense of preserving) nature of the system. The further it gets from its original revolutionary fervor, the more slavishly it clings to all its constitutive principles, which it sees as the only certainty in an uncertain world. Inevitably, through its own mindless, automatic motion, it gradually transforms those principles into a monstrous reality. The ceaseless strengthening and perfecting of totalitarian structures has long since come to serve only the naked self-preservation of power, but this is the best guarantee that what was genetically encoded in the original ideology will flourish undisturbed. The fanatic whose unpredictable zeal for the "higher cause" might threaten this automatic process has been replaced by the bureaucratic pedant whose reliable lack of ideas makes him an ideal guardian of late totalitarianism's vacuous continuity.

The phenomenon of totalitarian nihilization is one of the late fruits of an ideology that has already gone to seed.

Frank Zappa & Valcav Havel

On a very different note, Havel's relationship with Frank Zappa. 


"Frank Zappa was one of the gods of the Czech underground.  I thought of him as a friend  Whenever I feel like escaping from the world of the Presidency, I think of him." Zappa and Václav hit it off immediately. 

Zappa was appointed as "Special Ambassador to the West on Trade, Culture and Tourism". Czechs treated Zappa as a national hero, and he was even talking about applying for citizenship. Meetings were held with Zappa, Havel, his finance ministers and the Ministry of Culture and Trade. Frank had some ideas about increasing their tourism viability by converting some old castles into hotels and dealing with airlines to get more visitors into the country. There was also talk about credit cards and television shopping networks, both new concepts in Czechoslovakia. The main question was how to get western goods and services into the country. 

Two weeks later, US Secretary of State James Baker re-routed a trip through Europe to visit Václav Havel. At the time, Czechoslovakia was applying for badly needed aid from the US Government. Baker's message was short and simple: Havel could either do business with the United States or he could do business with Frank Zappa. It would seem Baker had a bit of an axe to grind, since Zappa had insulted his wife, Susan Baker, before a Senate Committee hearing in Washington DC back in 1985 regarding censorship of rock albums and the PMRC. The PMRC, or "Parents Music Resource Center", sought legislation for censorship of rock records. In the Senate hearing, Zappa referred to Susan and the others in the PMRC as "a group of bored Washington housewives", and it would seem James Baker had not forgotten the insult. Zappa's career as an international trade ambassador was over nearly as fast as it had begun.

Vaclav Havel & Lee Reed at Columbia

And this little story about a night out on the town with Havel, Zappa, Madaeline Albright, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. It can't get any stranger that this.

Madeliene Albright and Lou Reed? Even more scary: US aid to the new Czech state was contingent on Havel's shooing away Frank Zappa?  So much for the Cold War!

Havel at Columbia has a collection of video interviews with Lou Reed about Havel.




 Elegie from Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Band by Plastic People of the Universe

banned in Czechoslovakia 1973

Russian Adoptee Reported Murdered in Canada

Voice of Russia says that a 4-year old Russian-Canadian  adoptee  named Sasha, has been beaten to death by the live-in boyfriend of his Forever Mother.

Saturday, Russian Children's  Rights Commissioner Pavel Astakhov sent a  tweet about  the death which I've read, but offered no other details, and as of this writing there are no additional messages.  No statement has  been published by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science in either Russian or English or by TAR-Tass News Agency or any other Russian online source.  . 

I'll be watching this story.


UPDATE: One of my readers, Andraya Charette has pointed out to me that this is an old case from 2002--but that the Russian government  has only now has become aware of it.  The little boy's name was Sacha Valee.  I have some more information on the case, but it's late, so I'll put it up tomorrow probably..

Andraya pointed me to an article published today by the Russian Legal Information Agency (l'l be linking that  publication permanently in my sidebar on Niko) article, Children's Ombudsman reports death of Russian-born child adopted in Canada..  The article quotes RIA Novisti, which wasn't listed when I googled earlier this evening:

"It is an old case. It happened in 2002, but it became known only now," Astakhov told RIA Novosti.

According to him this case was uncovered by a group set up to monitor the status of the adopted children.

On Saturday Astakhov said he did not rule out imposing a moratorium on children's adoption and relocation to the United States before the US - Russian adoption agreement is ratified.

He said a dangerous situation has developed abroad when a huge number of violations of Russian-born children's rights keeps on growing. He also emphasized the gravest situation over children's rights violations can be seen in the United States.

The haphazard way in which the murders of Russian adoptees  is reported to the Russian government is alarming to say the least. Just how many murders have occurred that we don't know about (even if they are reported locally)  in the US, Canada, or other countries? .Since the Russians have formed a monitoring group, we may be hearing of more soon.

Astakhov also brought up a case of sexual abuse which boggles the mind.  I'll be looking for more on this:


According to his information there is an American family which adopted 21 girls from Russia with the purpose of sexually abusing them. "We have found out dozens of such case now," the ombudsman said.

If this is true, the Russian courts fall down on the job, too. 


Much thanks to Andraya Charette!

Santorum Called Out on Sandusky During Iowa Speech

I'm no fan of Barrack Obama   but I really like this.

Last Friday, Rick Santorum  pimped his hopeless campaign at the University of Northern Iowa in a speech sponsored by NIU and Iowa Public Radio.  It was all pretty ho-um and predictable until the Q & A.  I'll let Linh Ta, government reporter from the Northern Iowan in Santorum argues for government to return to past ways,  take it from there:. 

...Another audience member questioned the candidate about Santorum awarding former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky with the Angels in Adoption Award.

Santorum explained that he lacked knowledge of the situation at the time and noted that the award has since been withdrawn.

In response to his explanation, the audience member asked, "So we shouldn't trust Obama with our kids, but we can trust you?"

It was no news to me that Santorum had sponsored Jerry Sandusky glad-hand award from the Congressional Coalition for Adoption  (Even Bill Pierce found the award self-serving an referred to it the industrialist winners, in a private correspondence with me, as  "the hoity-toits". who like to get their pictures taken with government big shots), I'm thrilled, nonethetless, that someone in Iowa--an adoptee perchance--had the presence of mind to call out Santorum on what to a lot of people, might consider a "minor" Santorum issue. After all he has so many. to choose from..

I know that other Angels in Adoption recipients have been caught with their pants down, too, or their hand in the til' or  their hot sauce at the ready or whatever these people do, but I don't have time tonight to research it..  If anyone has any stories, feel free to post them here. We have our own Demons in Adoption Awards,  but it's also "fun" to expose these hypocrites whenever we can.


Thanks to Will Grigg for the tip.

Judy Ohles Kooistra - RIP

A few days ago we lost another good one.  Judy Ohles Kooistra, friend, blogger, and somebody who "got it." passed away in Canton, Ohio after a hard fought battle with Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Diagnosed in December 2007, Judy went into remission in December 2008. In early November this year, she learned the cancer had returned.

On December 8  Judy went into hospice and died the same day.. Jenna Hatfield (Chronicles of Munchkinland) wrote this about her good friend and co-blogger  A Pause for Judy. 

Judy has been a voice in the blogosphere for years. About adoption, about ethics, about books, about faith, about cancer, about life. I encourage you to pause today to read a bit of Judy, to say a prayer for both Judy and her family and to cover them all in your love today.

and after her death:  Thank You Judy

As with anyone who dies, there are things left unsaid. And so…

Followed by a wonderful tribute of thanks.

Judy is survived by her son Nate, husband Frank,  her mother, brother, sisters, and other family.

A remembrance of Judy's life will be held at the John Knox Presbyterian Church in North Canton on December 17.  Contributions in her memory can be made to the Little Pink Houses of Hope or to John Knox Church.

You can get to know Judy better at her blog, Just Enjoy Him  She was also a contributor to Mothers with Cancer.

******

I didn't know Judy well.  She was from my hometown and we corresponded sporadically about adoption mostly, and a little bit about Canton. I met her briefly at the ASAK conference at Pitt in 2007. She was a wonderful sane voice in a place where sanity is a stranger.


Today Judy's obituary appeared in the Canton Repository and I'm posting it in full here.


Judith Ohles Kooistra age 50, of Canton, passed away on Thursday night, Dec. 8, 2011

. She was born in Cortland, New York and was raised in Kent, Ohio. She graduated from Kent Roosevelt High School, Kalamazoo College and Kent State University where she earned her MLS Degree. Judy was a Collection Development Librarian and Associate Professor for Libraries and Media Services at Kent State University, Stark Campus. She was a member of John Knox Presbyterian Church where she served as a Stephen Minister. Judy was a blogger and enjoyed writing. She was supportive for many with breast cancer, research and funding. She was very passionate about international adoption and adopted her son, Nate, from Ha Tinh, Vietnam in 2002.


She is survived by her husband of 15 years, Frank; and son Nate; mother Shirley Ohles of Sandusky; brother Fred (Rosemary) Ohles of Lincoln, Neb.; sisters Janet Ohles of Carmel, N.Y., Margaret (Bob) Black of Port Clinton, Ohio; brother-in-law John Kooistra of Fairbanks, Ark; sister-in-law Karen Callahan of Akron; and nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her father John F. Ohles.


A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday Dec. 17 at 11 a.m. at John Knox Presbyterian Church, 5155 Eastlake St., NW, North Canton, OH 44720, with Rev. Tom Houston officiating. Then, the family would like you to join them following the service in the church fellowship hall for a time of sharing luncheon. Memorial contributions may be made to Little Pink Houses of Hope or to John Knox Presbyterian Church. Arnold 330-456-7291 www.arnoldfuneralhome.com\ 

Published in The Repository on December 11, 2011

UPDATE: A Summary of the Sentences of the Killers of Murdered Russian Adoptees in the US

 SUBSTANTIALLY UPDATED POST:
Since 1996, 7 Russian children have died at the hands of their forever families. Except for Dmitry Yakolev/Chase Harrison, all were victims of physical abuse, starvation, and systematic torture by adults who were judged by the US adoption industry and the US and Russian governments to be fit to adopt someone else's children. The Polreis case attracted national attention, but most cases, until recently, have rarely gotten more than a few lines. The Russian press has covered some, but not all of the cases, and covered the Harrison case extensively. Lately it has covered the Dykstra and Craver classes.  The Russian Investigate Committee is now looking into some if not all of the cases, and threatening to take action on its own.  Though it is highly unlike that Russian courts will accede to the wishes of the IC, the investigations and threats are indicative of the anger and frustration the Russian government has with Russian-US cross-country adoption.

Below is a summary of the legal outcomes of the 17 cases on record. . These summaries are taken from the larger account of each case found at my Forever Family, Forever Dead blog entry. There are also many links to these cases in the larger summary. Outside of Peggy Sue Hilt and Gary and Amy Thompson,  the sentences have been relatively short and most of the forever parents are now on the street. I have no idea what the average sentence is for killing your child. I do know there is great disparity not only amongst states but amongst jurisdiction for killing children, so I can't say that these bad sentences reflect a general trend or are just what they are. Whatever, it is shocking to see that monsters like Robert and Brenda Matthey  and Heather Lindorff out and about.  Her husband, however,  checked into the Gray Bar Hotel himself after he was convicted of trying to hire a hitman to kill a witness in the family's earlier trial.

 This entry is a backgrounder for my own future writings and is also intended as a guide to domestic and international media t and scholars who check in here.  When pictures of the dead children are available, I have included them here. Pictures of the forever parents, whenever available are placed below "Outcome."

. ****** 

DAVID POLREIS, JR,/KONSTANTIN SHLEPIN

age 2, Greeley, Colorado. Died February 9, 1996; beaten and cut over 90% of his body.

OUTCOME: Adoptive mother Renee Polreis was convicted of child abuse resulting in death and sentenced to 18 years in prison. In 2000 her sentence was reduced; she was paroled in 2005.

 LOGAN HIGGINBOTHAM (birth name unknown) 

age 3, Shelburne, Vermont. Died November 25, 1998 of massive head injuries. The medical examiner was unable to determine if death was an accident or homicide. Three years later police reopened the case with other medical experts and concluded that Logan's head had been intentionally slammed into a wall.

OUTCOME: In 2004, Laura Higginbotham pled no contest to a charge of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 1 year in prison. She will remain on parole until her older daughter, Layne also adopted from Russia is 18. Higginbotham has divorced, remarried, and has a biological child.

 VIKTOR MATTHEY/ VIKTOR SERGIVICH TULIMOV

 

 ge 6, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Died October 31, 2000 of cardiac arrest due to hypothermia after adoptive parents Robert and Brenda Matthey locked him overnight in a damp unheated pump room; also suffered over 40 cuts, scrapes, bruises and untreated fractures. Robert Matthey admitted beating Viktor with an aluminum baseball bat, a belt, 2 whips, and his open hand
.

OUTCOME: Jury acquitted the couple on evidence tampering charges; deadlocked on manslaughter charges, but convicted them of lesser abuse. Both sentenced to 10 years in prison for confining Viktor to the pump room, 10 years for inflicting excessive corporal punishment and 7 years for failing to provide medical care. The sentences were to run concurrently. Brenda Matthey was released from prison on November 1, 2008. Robert Matthey was released on November 7, 2008.

LUKE EVANS, (birth name unknown) 

age 1.5, Lowell, Indiana. Died November 30, 2001 of massive head injuries, shaken baby syndrome, and poor nutrition.

OUTCOME: On June 30, 2006 Natalie Fabian Evans was found not guilty of murder, battery and neglect of a dependent after a doctor for the defense convinced a jury that Luke could have had "bleeding in his brain for days prior to the day" he was found unresponsive in his crib.Evans and her husband divorced during the proceedings.

 JACOB LINDORFF, (birth name unknown)

age 5, Gloucester Twp., New Jersey. Died December 14, 2001 of blunt force trauma to head. Also suffered from 2nd degree burns on feet, hemorrhaging in 1 eye; bruises, and seizures.

OUTCOME: Adoptive mother Heather Lindorff, 36, was found guilty of 2nd degree endangering, aggravated assault. She was sentenced to 6 years. She claimed the injuries were accidents and begged judge not to separate her from her family. Adoptive father, James, 54, sentenced to 4 years probation and 400 hours of community service for child abuse. In May 2004, Heather Lindorff was released on appeal bond and ordered not to visit her children without supervision. That same month DYFS learned that children were back living with the Lindorffs. Medical examinations found four children were malnourished, abused, and neglected. Heather Lindorff was released from prison on November `6, 2009. In September 2007, James Lindorff and Mildred Cullinan were charged in a murder-for-hire plot to kill a witness at the Lindorff trial. On August 7, 2008 James Lindorff was convicted and sentenced to a maximum of 7 years with a minimum term of 5 years 11 months and 12 days. He will be eligible for parole on April 16, 201.  His mother-in-law Mildred Cullinan pled down to a charge of hindering an investigation and was sentenced to 90 days in jail

JESSICA ALBINA HAGMANN (birth name unknown) 

age 2 years, 7 months, Prince William County, Virginia. Died August 11, 2003 of mechanical asphyxia due to compression against an adult: lack of blood and oxygen possibly due to "holding therapy"performed by her adoptive mother Patrice Lynne Hagmann.

OUTCOME: In December 2003 Patrice Hagmann took an Alford plea ( pleading no contest, without acknowledging guilt). Prosecutors recommended 14 years in prison, In January 2004 the court sentenced her to five years for each charge, suspended dependent on five years probation.

ZACHARY HIGIER /NIKITA KHORYAKOVONT, 

age 2, Braintree, Massachusetts. Died August 15, 2002 of severe trauma to the head. Jacob had a bilateral skull fracture, a massive stroke on the right side of his brain, a smaller stroke on left side, brain swelling and detached retinas.

OUTCOME: Adoptive mother Natalya Higier pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail, with 18 months balance of sentence suspended for 4 years; also required to attend anger management classes.

MARIA ANASTASIA BENNETT, (birth name unknown)

age 2,  Lancaster, Ohio. Died October 23, 2002 of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Medical evidence indicated fatal head wounds and eye injuries could not be caused by such a drop.

OUTCOME: Bennett pled no contest to 1 count of reckless homicide. She originally faced 8 years in prison. Prosecutors recommended 4 years, but said they would not oppose probation after 2 years served. Bennett was sentenced to 3 years.

LIAM DMITRY THOMPSON/ DMITRY SERGEVICH ISHLANKULOV

age 3, Galloway, Ohio. Died October 16, 2003 at Columbus Doctors Hospital West of scalding and neglect. Five days earlier, adoptive father, Gary Allen Thompson, put Liam in a bathtub of 140 degree water causing 2nd and 3rd degree burns; skin peeled off legs. Instead of seeking treatment Thompson put him on a crib mattress in an unheated basement. Adoptive mother, LPN Amy Lynn Thompson, whose diary revealed she didn't like Liam or his adopted sister, failed to notice the seriousness of burns for 2 days, then treated him with Tylenol and Vaseline. Liam was taken to the hospital only when he went into respiratory failure. Autopsy revealed severe burns on both legs, right arm, back, and buttocks; bruises on neck, right side of upper lip, right eye, both cheeks and forehead. The official cause of death is listed as "thermal injuries."

OUTCOME: Amy Thompson pled guilty to child endangering and involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. She is currently incarcerated in the Marysville Reformatory for Women and is scheduled for release on October 9, 2017.. Gary Thompson pled guilty to murder and was sentenced to 15-life. His first parole hearing will be in August 2018.


ALEX PAVLIS/ ALEX GEIKO

age 6, Schaumburg, Illinois. Died December 19, 2003 of severe beating. Adoptive mother Irma Pavlis admitted to punching Alex hard in the stomach and slapping him.

OUTCOME: Irma Pavlis sentenced to 12 years for involuntary manslaughter. She was paroled on March 28, 2008 and resides out of state. She was released from released from parole on March 29, 2009.

DENNIS GENE MERRYMAN/ DENIS URITSKY 

 age 8, Harford County, Maryland. Died January 22, 2005 of cardiac arrest brought on by starvation; weighed 37 pounds, 2 pounds less than when doctors examined him in October 2000. Medical examiner could find no underlying conditions and ruled death a homicide.

OUTCOME: On April 17, 2008, adoptive parents Samuel and Donna Merryman On April 17, 2008 they were each sentenced to 22 years in prison.  Samuel is currently incarcerated at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Hagerstown; Donna is at Patuxent Correctional Mental Health Center in Jessup.

NINA HILT/ VIKTORIA BAZHENOVA

 age 2.5, Wake Forest, North Carolina. Died July 2, 2005 on A visit to Manassas, Virginia, from blows to the abdominal area. Adoptive mother, Peggy Sue Hilt, 33, told investigators she was "enraged and angered" at Nina, shook her, dropped her on floor, kicked her in the stomach, then picked her up, put her in bed and continued to strike her with a closed right fist on her back and stomach

OUTCOME: On May 25, 2006, Hilt was sentenced to 35 years in prison with 10 years suspended; will serve 21-22 years due to time served awaiting trial.She is currently incarcerated at the Fluvanna Correction Center for Women in Troy, Virginia.  Her expected release date is October 6, 2022.

 

ISAAC JONATHAN DYKSTRA/ILYA KARGYNTSEV

 age 21 months, Iowa City. Died August 14, 2005 , the day after he was hospitalized for injuries reportedly incurred from an accidental fall a few days earlier. On August 7, 2008, after a nearly 3-year investigation, adoptive father, Brian Dykstra, 31, was charged with 2nd degree murder.

OUTCOME: Dykstra released on bond. Due to the complexity of the case the prosecution and defense asked for several postponements over the next three years. As a result,  Dykstra didn't go to trial until the end of October 2011. On November 3, 2011, despite a preponderance of evidence from doctors, nurses, police, and pathologists that  in their opinion he killed Ilya, Dykstra was acquitted of all charges. Judging from news reports, the jury appeared to prefer the testimony of character witnesses.over scientific evidence. Dykstra and his wife, Dr. Lisa DeWaard Dykstra are now divorced, but she testified for the defense. Nearly a month after the verdict, on December 3, 2011.  the Russian Investigative Committee, announced it was opening a case file on Dykstra and doing its own investigation.  According to numerous Russian sources, the US State Department, contrary to agreement, had never informed Russian authorities about Ilya's death.and they heard about it only after the trial was over.

NICOLI (KOLYA) EMELYANTSEV

age 14 months, Tooele, Utah. Died March 7, 2008 from a "significant skull fracture" caused by blunt force trauma. Adoptive mother, Kimberly Emelyantsev 33, charged with murder.  Charles against her husband, Fyodor, a Russian national, were dropped. During her post-conviction psychiatric evaluation she admitted grabbing Kolya by an arm and leg and repeatedly slamming him in the floor. Kolya suffered from Down Syndrome.

OUTCOME: Kimberley Emelyantsev, pled guilty to a lowered charge of 2nd degree felony child abuse homicide. On October 10, 2008 she was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. I can find no current information on Emelyantsev's whereabouts (she should still be in prison), but  according to his Facebook page,  husband Fyodor Emelyantsev  has returned to Russia and is living in Novosibirsk.

CHASE HARRISON/
DMITRY ALEXANDRIVCH YAKOLEV

age 21 months, Purcellville, Virgina. Died July 8, 2008 in Herndon, Virginia after adoptive father Miles Harrison, 49, left him in SUV for nine hours in up to 91 degree heat. Temperature inside anywhere between 131-172,.

Outcome:  On December 18, 2008 Miles Harrison was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in a bench trial.

NATHANIEL MICHAEL CRAVER/ IVAN "VANYA" SKOROBOGATOV 

 age 7. Dillsburg/Carroll Township, Pennsylvania. Died August 25, 2009 at Penn State Hershey Medical Center after being taken off life support. The autopsy revealed Vanya suffered 80 external injuries, including 20 to the head. Old injuries, including fractures to his forehead and old blood beneath his scalp were found. The coroner also found evidence of malnourishment and "severe failure to thrive." Adopters Michael 45 and Nanette Craver, 54, say that Vanya caused injuries to himself.

 OUTCOME: On February 26, 2010 Michael and Nanette Craver were arrested and charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy, and child endangerment. The prosecutor considered seeking indictments with death penalty specifications, claiming that Vanya's death constitution torture,  but later took that option  off  the table.  The couple were held in the York County Prison without bond until their trial in September 2011. Like the Dykstracase, despite a preponderance  of evidence to the contrary, the Cravers were acquitted of first degree murder, but unlike Dykstra were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment, and conspiracy.  In November they  were sentenced to five years in prison with time served. They are currently on parole and attempting to regain custody of Vanya's twin sister, Dasha. After the sentencing hearing, the Russian Investigative Committee, outraged at the outcome of the trial announced it would seek to extradite the Cravers and try them on murder charges in Moscow. A Russian court ruled against the CI, but it is still investigating the case.  On December 2, the Cravers  filed separate appeals of their sentences and demanded new trials. If they win their appeals, which is doubtful, they can only be retried on the involuntary manslaughter charge, and if found guilty again, be sent to prison for up to10 years.

UPDATED DECEMBER 7, 2011

Ivan Skorobogatov. Cravers want new trial; custody of Dasha

The Russian Investigative Committee  (IC) isn't the only one demanding that the Cravers get a new trial.

Last week Michael and Nanette Craver, convicted last month of involuntary manslaughter in the death of their adopted Russian son Vanya Skorobogatov  filed separate post-sentencing appeals with Judge John S. Kennedy, the presiding judge of their trial.  They argue that the verdicts were "against the weight of the evidence."  The appeals are not online, but according to the York Dispatch, Cravers ask judge to overturn their convictions and grant them new trials,:the couple argues:

 prosecutors presented no evidence to show either parent physically abused Nathaniel, other than testimony from a forensic pathologist who said he believed the injuries were intentionally inflicted.... 

 ...The forensic pathologist testifying for the defense told jurors there was no evidence the injuries were intentionally inflicted, and a number of medical experts testified to Nathaniel's "numerous and serious medical and mental-health conditions," including self-injury, according to Michael Craver's motion

The jury didn't buy  that argument and found the couple guilty of involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and conspiracy. The couple was originally charged with first degree murder, with an option of death penalty specifications..

If the Cravers' appeal is granted, they can be re-tried only on the charges of which they were convicted, . BUT if they lose again, they could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, rather than their current cushy time-served awaiting trial.

The Cravers obviously don't' know when to quit, especially since their case is edging into international incident territory due to the IC's attempt to extradite them to Moscow for a taste of Russian justice--and to take custody of Vanya's twin sister Dasha Skorobogatova in the process.  Dasha, still a Russian citizen, as was Vanya,  is currently, in  the care of an adoptive aunt..

My educated guess is that  Judge Kennedy will not grant the appeal motions since he, agreed with the  verdict:
 .
"It was an appropriate and just verdict," he said. "The physical evidence ... did not establish there was intentional infliction of injuries on Nathaniel. ... Certainly there was reasonable doubt presented."

If Kennedy doesn't grant the motions, the next step will be to take the case to the Pennsylvania Superior Court for consideration.

The Cravers legal team says the couple maintains their innocence and want to prove it, but also need an acquittal  to re-gain custody of Dasha, whom they  haven't seen since their arrest in February. 2010.  Rick Robinson, one of Nanette Craver's lawyers. who said last month that the sentence was fair and reasonable, now backpedaling.  He says he clients are concerned that their convictions: 


establish the ability for Children and Youth (caseworkers) to attempt to terminate their parental rights for (the girl),"  "They want to have contact with their daughter." 

To add to the Craver's woes, they are currently unemployed and unemployable due to their conviction. They are now living with friends, which might mean they lost their home.


In so many words,  the Cravers still insist that Vanya killed himself.


Let's stop right now!  

I'm not going to go through all the trial testimony, most of it damming for the Cravers,  but  let's just take the autopsy alone.  This is how  pathologist Wayne K Ross, who performed the post-mortem on Vanya, described his condition durung  the Craver's preliminary hearing, as reported in the April 29, 2010 York Daily Record.


WARNING:  Graphic language ahead 
 

 Ross said the injuries to Nathaniel's swollen head were caused by repetitive blunt force trauma. He made the same observation as to the numerous bruises on the boy's arms, legs, chest, abdomen and torso.

The only part of the boy's body the pathologist did not take note of was the bottom of his feet.

Pictures taken at Hershey Medical Center by Carroll Township Police Sgt. John Schreiner reportedly showed an emaciated boy with gauze covering his head where surgeons had removed a piece of his skull to relieve the pressure on his swollen brain.

The exhibits - 18 hospital and autopsy photos and a cat scan - were passed by Barker to the defense attorneys and the district justice. They were not visible to onlookers in the courtroom.

Ross said the boy "looked like he was starved to death" and had "less than a millimeter" of body fat at the time of his death.


The pathologist said the boy's face and head were distorted by swelling and looked "like a balloon." 

Nathaniel also had a "classic cauliflower ear" normally seen on a wrestler, he said...

...Ross's other findings included anemia, brain scarring, indications that the boy's shoulders and hips had been dislocated and that he had been bound at the wrists and ankles. He said the time of the injuries ranged from the 24 hours before being taken to the hospital to up to two months earlier.

under cross,

Nanette Craver's attorney David Hershey asked Ross if Nathaniel being diagnosed with reattachment disorder, the lack of a nurturing environment in a Russian orphanage and whether the boy was self-destructive and taking anti-psychotic medications would affect his findings.

Ross suggested deferring the psychological questions to an expert in that field. He then explained that anyone seeing Nathaniel over a period of time would have noticed the drastic change in his appearance and health.

Ross said the final injury to Nathaniel's head that necessitated taking him to the hospital required "hundreds of pounds of force."

He added the bruising patterns on the boy's head, back and abdomen "were inconsistent with self-abuse."

Dr. Ross also testified at the trial.. From the Harrisburg Patriot-News/ Penn.Live.com  Doctor describes Craver's injuries to York County jury:

After nearly two hours on the witness stand, Dr. Wayne K. Ross circled his main point.

The Dauphin County forensic pathologist had performed the autopsy on Nathaniel Craver in 2009. He had spent Wednesday morning detailing the injuries he found on the 7-year-old’s body.

Nathaniel’s head: “I don’t just mean a little bit of swelling. I mean the entire skull and head looked to me like a watermelon or an alien.”

Nathaniel’s brain: “The bottom line is, it was soft as anything. When you look at the pictures of the brain we took at autopsy, it was purple and dead ... it was flat and mushy. It was horrible.”

He found evidence that muscles had torn near Nathaniel’s shoulder and hip joints from being pulled. He found marks indicating the boy had been bound at his feet and wrists.

He found bruising on Nathaniel’s torso and back showing the boy had been struck with a “tool type” device over a period of weeks. He found an untreated broken rib. He found “lakes of blood” under Nathaniel’s skull. To get there, Nathaniel’s head must have been struck repeatedly.

In the weeks before his death, Ross testified, Nathaniel was starving....

...Was it possible, Barker asked, for Nathaniel to have done this to himself?

It went to the heart of the defense case. Michael and Nanette Craver have maintained their adopted Russian son constantly abused himself. It was a manifestation of deep physical and psychological issues stemming from a harsh early life in Russia, conditions the Cravers have said they could not stop.

Ross did not hesitate.

“The abuse I see is due to the direct action of another,” Ross said, “not self-abuse.” 

Other medical, police, and family backed up Ross on various points..

I really don't see how this evidence can be refuted, despite the defense's expert witness who claimed it was impossible to tell how Vanya was injured. Pathologists do make mistakes, but Vanya's injuries are so massive and extended they cannot be dismissed as self-inflicted. Especially by a 7-year old.

Clearly the jury, though flawed with its involuntary manslaughter verdict, believed that the Cravers were responsible for Vanya/s death through abuse or negligence..  A re-trial won't change that. Whatever happened Michael and Nanette Craver were lousy parents who either caused Vanya's death directly or indirectly. I believe directly.

I haven't yet, found an IC reaction to the Craver's demand for a new trial. The appeals have been reported by the Russian press so we know the IC  and Russian Children's Rights Commission director Pavel Askakov know--just in case the US State Deparmtnet didn't know about it.

This is a wrap-up video of the sentencing.