By Elaine Rassel
With children coming across the border alone into the U.S. and the government asking states to take some of these children, drew my attention as I had an instructor at NCC that adopted children from Russia in the early 2000’s. She and her husband made several trips to Russia before the adoption came about. They had originally only wanted two children. I asked her what she was going to do if a “family” was up for adoption. Would she break up the family and only take two? She didn’t think this was going to happen. Well, it did happen! There were three children and would they take all three? They did at an extremely high financial expense.
Were they assured all three were siblings? At least they were told this. They were from age 7 and under in age. The seven year old had to have counseling once the kids were settled in the U.S. These three children found a good family that adopted them. As of the last few years, Russia is tightening their adoption rules for out-of-the country adopting because of stories that have come back to them about the abuse the Russian children suffered from their adoptive parents. There are 19 Russian children that were adopted to American parents that are known to Russia that have died in their adoptive homes since 1998. Russia banned adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens in 2012.
Two internationally adopted children were on a television talk show recently and spoke out on the abuse they suffered by their American parents. Martin and Kathleen O’Brien from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin adopted six children (four from Russia, and two from Guatemala). The Russian children were bio siblings adopted in 2004 at approximately ages 5-11. Some of the children were home schooled.
The Wisconsin couple, had been considered to be ideal parents by neighbors, although some have said they noticed odd things about the couple. It has been reported that even their own children have taken Russian children into their homes and adopted them.
The four Russian foster children, victims of abuse that had been going on for eight years, are now between the ages of 12 and 19. After speaking out, they have since been placed in protective custody with their exact location not being revealed by the Department of Social and Child Protective Services. According to police, two of the children complained about their treatment in August of 2011 but it was not until May of 2015, that the charges were investigated. Was it because they were Russians?
The O’Brien’s were facing 17 charges detained in an 11 page complaint of abuse with a hearing scheduled for July 6 of 2015.
The Russian Foreign Ministry Commissioner for Human Rights, Konstantin Dolgov, said that the complaint includes charges that the children were victims of suffocation, and that the foster parent even used tear gas on them. He also stated that Russia views this case as infringement of the rights of minors in the U.S. and the perpetrators should face punishment with what they have done.
The Russian Foreign Ministry had called on the U.S. authorities to thoroughly investigate the case and to pass fair judgment, something that has not been done in the past where even in recent history, parents have gotten of with a slap on the wrist for the charges including the murder of a Russian child.
The facts and the charges in the case are sickening and are coming in from various sources. Investigators found a diary belonging to Mrs. O’Brien which she had kept for many years and where she methodically listed the punishments she subjugated the children to. Why she would keep such a diary is a cause for argument and can only be known to her as to why she was doing and continued to do it; these were not blind fits of rage. Was she proud of her horrible abuse? Did she get pleasure from humiliating and torturing these children and then go back and read about her deeds again and again?
Sadly for the children, the U.S. legal system was extremely slow in responding. Even in a country where they will take away children from their offense, it took 9 months for charges to be brought against the O’Brien’s. In a country now used to such cases, was this just more of the same for them? Did they believe the children were lying? No one expects adoptive parents to torture, humiliate, deprive, or abuse their adopted children. No one…until, of course, it’s too late.
Two of these adopted children, now teenagers, have come forth with their story of abuse by the O’Brien’s. The O Brien’s three biological children (an adult daughter, Diane, and two minor sons) were not abused and were sometimes forced to participate in the abuse. Leonid, is 16 years old and came from Russia. Carolina, is 17 years old and came from Guatemala. They are speaking for the other four children that shared a small room with three bunk beds. In the corner of the room was a wastepaper can that was used as a “bathroom”.
Following their adoption in 2004, they were subjected to 7 years of abuse, including: being sprayed with pepper spray, kicked in the groin, strangled, slapped, forced to stand naked outside in the cold while their family ate dinner inside, deprived of food, imprisoned in a room for days, stand in a feces covered dog pen, and forced to kneel for hours on sharp rocks.
Carolina said they lived around a field and their older brother would show us what to eat. We would take corn, and apples from their neighbor’s yard. They ate grass, cracked corn, goat food, bugs, peanuts and bird seed and raw eggs (from chickens in their yard) in order to survive. They were not allowed inside while the parents and their children sat at the table and ate a meal. The refrigerator and pantry had food and were locked. If they would sneak in and try to get some and were found doing so, they were beaten with a belt and forced to sleep outside for the night.. Once, when Leonid was found trying to take a pocket knife to be able to cut the grass, he was dragged across the yard and suffered an ear tear by the mother. Then she slowly forced the knife blade into his palm until she saw blood.
Some of them were allowed inside to do the dishes after the family had eaten. If they didn’t do the dishes fast enough, a cloth was put in their mouth. Carolina, who claims she was locked in a room for most of six years, told of how all of her six siblings shared one room. There were three different bunk beds in the room and a trash can in the corner of the room. The can was used as a bathroom. They were allowed to bathe two to three times a week, and Sunday morning before church. Carolina cried as she told how they didn’t really feed the kids. “I would go without and take food to my siblings.” The two teenagers that were speaking out, thought all of the aforementioned wasn’t fair. However, they were led to believe it was their punishment for whatever happened.
Leonid told the the physical abuse, the marks that were made at that time, they’ve healed. “But, the worst abuse is being left alone for a child, because it makes them feel as, ‘Who is going to help me? I feel so alone.’ So I think as much as physical abuse is bad, I think the worst part is the emotional abuse, because that’s what breaks down the kid.”
These two teens are telling their story in hopes that they will help give children, who may be in a similar situation, the courage to speak out. “There are children who still have years and years in abusive families, and they’re scared of speaking out because they’re scared of consequences; they’re scared of more abuse that could happen. A lot of times, it takes just one person to stand up and be, like, ‘This is what happened to me.’ We spoke out, and now we’re trying to help out and make a difference with other children.
In August of 2011, the abuse came o light when the children reported it to social services. At this time, the O’Brien’s were each charged with 10 counts of felony child abuse as well as several misdemeanors. They were charged with these counts but nothing was ever done until four year later.
The charges included: (1) Stripping the children naked as part of punishment. (2) Dragging the children by their arms while the children were naked. (3) Kicking the children in the groin. (4) Spraying the children in the face ad on the neck and chest with pepper spray. (5) Bending a child’s arm into a “compliance-type” arm bar. (6) Hitting the children with a stick. (7) Slapping the children in the face. (8) Stabbing one child in the hand with a knife. (9) Grabbing children by the throat and lifting them off the ground. (10) Striking children in the groin with a knee. (11) Picking one child off the floor by an ear causing the ear to tear and bleed. (12) Striking children with a ruler. (13) Placing one child in a “bin” while Martin O’Brien struck the outside of the bin with a log. (14) Striking one child in the chest with a flashlight. (15) Forcing the adopted children to eat frozen loaves of bread of the floor before bedtime while the biological children watched. (16) Forcing the children to stand naked in the snow three to four times a year. (17) Locking the children in a bedroom for four to five days at a time. (18) Beating the children with a belt. And, (19) Choking one child because of a prayer he said.
In July of 2015, Kathleen O’Brien was found guilty of three counts of child abuse and one count of disorderly conduct, and Martin O’Brien was convicted of four counts of child abuse.
The judge that had heard the case, was not the judge that pronounced their sentence. A new judge took over and sentenced them to one year in the county jail, with privileges, meaning they only have to sleep in jail and check out during the day. They are on probation for three years.
The Daily Mail Editor-at-Large, Piers Morgan appeared on the program and said there are 75 million viewers of the Daily Mail who are “outraged” with the sentencing the last judge ruled for these parents. When the judge was questioned as to why the light sentencing, he could only say that “mental and physiological abuse” is not considered as bad as “physical abuse”. According to this judge, physical abuse leaves “scars” such as a black eye, while mental and physiological does not. People are demanding that this judge be removed from his position.
Morgan said he was glad these two teens came forth and spoke out for others that could be going through the same ordeal. Leonid and Carolina have been adopted by another set of parents who are just the opposite of what they had before. The new father stated that because of this mental abuse, he questions if Leonid will ever trust him.
Caroline wants to join the Peace Corp so she can help other people. Leonid wants to go into the military and after serving time there, he would like to go into law enforcement.
Both of these teens left their country with hopes of being able to live the American Dream after being adopted as well as having a better life in a new country. Until they had the courage of speaking out, none of this would come true for them.
Could this happen to these kids coming across the border and going to states where people could adopt them? While not all parents adopting foreign children fit in the aforementioned category, it is understandable why some countries are tightening up their adoption rules.
What can we do to stop cases like this from happening again? There are defenseless children that are helpless and they ask, “Will our cries be heard?”