Kristen Barbour pled no contest to two felonies of endangering the welfare of the two little children she and her husband adopted from Ethiopia. In September, she was sentenced to 6 to 12 months alternative housing (outside of her home) and 5 years of probation. Her attorney, Robert Stewart, recently filed a request to change that “alternative housing” to home confinement, saying that the Barbours’ two biological children would then be left with no one to care for them.
The district attorney, Jennifer DiGiovanni, objected to any changes in Kristen Barbour’s sentence, saying that “Doing so would dilute this court’s sentence. This would not adequately address the severity of the crimes of which the defendant was convicted.”
You can read the full story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette here.
The two children are doing much better, following removal from the Barbours’ home. May justice for them be served.
Where is the justice for the two kids, 6 to 12 month for causing brain damage. unwanted to birth and abused by adaptive parents, what a great start in life!!
Where is the justice here for the adopted children, Why should anyone care? They were unwanted at birth and abused by there adoptive parents. 6 to 12 month for causing brain damage.
Am I the only one who is completely horrified that the Barbours were allowed to retain custody of their biological children?
How does making your biokids watch you torture/abuse their adopted siblings not constitute abuse, in and of itself?
No, it’s horrifying and they are also trauma survivors.
I think the complication is: Children removed from the custody of abusive parents experience another terrible trauma. Losing your parents, no matter how objectively bad they are at that job, impacts children severely.
So you’re not alone; I question leaving those poor kids with these terrible parents. At the same time, I recognize that they have survived something awful and leaving the only family they know would be another awful thing.
With adequate education and monitoring, it’s possible that the Barbours and their parents can provide the least traumatic setting for the children born to the family. My level of trust that a system which failed all 4 children so dramatically, to get them into this situation, will provide the interventions? Very low.
Logically, I guess I can see the reason for allowing the Barbours to keep their biokids.
But what gets me is this: Had all 4 kids been the Barbours biokids and had they severely assaulted only 2 of them as severely as their adopted Ethiopian ex-kids, they’d’ve lost custody of all 4 kids. Without a doubt. But since the abused kids were adopted… court doesn’t terminate rights to the bios.
I agree…. These poor kids have been left with parents who are proven abusers. I feel desperately sad for them.