National Adoption Awareness Month, 2018
The horrific story of the Hart family plunging off a cliff last March made headlines around the world, perhaps most searingly in the adoption community.
Adoptive parents Jennifer and Sarah Hart drove their 6 children down the west coast, from Washington state through Oregon on to California. Their journey began on March 23, 2018, and ended in death three days later.
Based on cell phone pings, the family was in Newport, Oregon, on March 24. I’m in Newport now, at a conference/retreat totally unrelated to adoption or the Harts.
That said, as I was driving here, I had the family on my mind. In part, that’s because November is National Adoption Awareness Month. I had all 6 adopted children—Davonte, Hannah, Markis, Jeremiah, Abigail, and Sierra–in my heart and on my mind.
Newport was one of the last places where the Hart family was known to be. Did they stop to look at the stunning ocean here at Nye Beach? Did they get coffee at the Human Bean or the Starbucks drive-through? Did the kids stretch their legs and poke around the Bayfront?
Where’d they sleep? Did they sleep?
They were all dead two days after they were here in the town where I am now.
The bodies of Devonte and Hannah Hart have still not been found.
May they all rest in peace.
Nye Beach, Newport, OR Photo by Maureen McCauley. November 2018
Further Reading:
JaeRan Kim, Ph.D., an adopted person, wrote on her blog, Harlow’s Monkey: Thoughts About the Hart Family.
Stacey Patton, PH.D., an adopted person, wrote this for Dame magazine: “Why Jennifer and Sarah Hart Killed Their Adopted Children”
Michele Sharpe, an adopted person, wrote about the family here: “The Hart Children: Curse of the Adoptee.”