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Video: Foster Child Found Dead
Foster Child Found Dead, Family Sought
Toddler Found Dead After Sister Called Police
POSTED: 5:25 pm PDT July 18, 2010
UPDATED: 5:37 pm PDT July 18, 2010
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A three-year-old girl was found dead in her southwest home Sunday morning and now police are looking for her foster parents, who also happen to be her aunt and uncle.
The girl's foster family was nowhere to be found when police arrived. According to police no one in the home called called 911. Instead, the girl's foster mom called her sister to say the girl was dead and then fled.
http://www.turnto23.com/news/24303426/detail.html
Isabella Brooke Knightly and Austin Gamez-Knightly
In Memory of my Loving Husband, William F. Knightly Jr. Murdered by ILLEGAL Palliative Care at a Nashua, NH Hospital
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Another adoption tragedy taints Tennessee Death of child may cause international backlash
Another adoption tragedy taints Tennessee
Death of child may cause international backlash
BY JENNIFER BROOKS • THE TENNESSEAN • JULY 18, 2010
This was supposed to be Kairissa XingJing Mark's forever home.
On March 29, the 4-year-old's new family brought her home from China to a big brick house in a cozy Mt. Juliet subdivision that is the picture of the American Dream. There was a big fenced-in yard for her to play in and pretty pink curtains in the upstairs bedroom window. In the window next to the door, someone had taped a child's coloring of a religious scene, the Good Shepherd guarding his flock.
But three months after her adoption, Kairissa is dead, her adoptive family is shattered and the international adoption community is reeling from the news of yet another horror story out of Tennessee.
Kairissa's mother, Dr. Deborah Wen Yee Mark, a pediatrician, stands accused of beating her to death. Last week, a Wilson County grand jury indicted Mark on one count of first-degree murder and eight counts of child abuse. It also indicted her husband, Steven Joshua Mark, a stay-at-home dad, on multiple counts of aggravated child abuse, child abuse, failure to protect and of being an accessory after the fact.
RELATED
Wilson County parents charged in beating death of 4-year-old
Metro's Most Wanted & Arrested
The couple's 8-year-old biological daughter is in foster care. Police say she told them she witnessed some of the attacks on her little sister.
Court Date Set
The Marks will be arraigned Friday and they intend to plead not guilty, said their attorney, Jack Lowery Jr. Kairissa died at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital on July 2, one day after police were summoned to the family home by a report of a child in distress. Lowery said the fact the case is already heading to court shows signs of a "rush to judgment."
The fact that a pediatrician, someone who devoted her entire career to protecting other people's children, is accused of killing one of her own adds to the horror of this case. Those who know the Marks best aren't talking — their neighbors, their congregation at the Donelson Fellowship Free Will Baptist Church, where they worshipped, her colleagues at Centennial Pediatrics in Lebanon.
"She's a lady who, in the past several days, I have received numerous calls in support of, telling me what wonderful care she took of (her patients') children," Lowery said. "This is just a quality family. They attended church here. They were very involved. They have suffered. Their lives have absolutely been turned upside down."
The Marks, he said, spent a number of years attempting to adopt from China. It's a process that has become increasingly difficult over the years, as more and more countries have tightened their restrictions on international adoptions to the United States.
Russian Case Was Shock
In April, news broke that an adoptive mother from Tennessee had put her 6-year-old son on a plane back to Russia, with a note saying she no longer wanted him. The incident sparked an international uproar and threats of a moratorium on further adoptions from Russia.
"We do expect changes to happen," said Chuck Johnson, CEO of the National Council for Adoption, who has been in contact with the Chinese government about the case. Overall, rates of abuse of adopted children tend to be lower than among biological children, he said, but "every tragedy is one too many."
RELATED
Wilson County parents charged in beating death of 4-year-old
Metro's Most Wanted & Arrested
China probably would hold off on any policy changes until there is a conviction, but Johnson said there is already talk of requiring additional follow-up visits after an adoption. Right now, China's minimum requirements are home visits at the six-month and one-year mark after an adoption.
"It's so unfortunate. Our hearts just break," Johnson said. "We see the motivation and desire of most families who just want to bring a child out of an institution and give them a home, have someone to call them Mom and Dad. … And then to see something like this happen."
China Cracks Down
Local adoption agencies also are bracing for a possible backlash.
China has already cracked down on U.S. adoptions in recent years — it now bans adoptions by single women, anyone who has ever taken medication for depression and anyone with a body mass index of 40 or higher.
International adoptions have nosedived from a peak of 22,739 children brought into the United States in 2005 to fewer than 13,000 in 2009. The average wait to adopt a child from China ranges from more than four years, for parents who want to adopt a perfectly healthy child, to an average of nine months to two years for those willing to adopt a "waiting child" — one with a diagnosed health problem.
Families Screened
Prospective families undergo rigorous scrutiny, including background checks, home visits and interviews with friends and family members. The Marks worked with an as yet unidentified Nashville adoption agency, but most agencies in the area follow the same basic precautions.
Bethany Christian Services, a national adoption agency with an office in Nashville, declined to say whether it was the agency that helped the Mark family adopt Kairissa. But Tammy Bass, director of Middle Tennessee Bethany, noted that any couple looking to adopt overseas would have to run through the same rigorous background check — starting with local criminal history checks and running all the way up to a screening by the Department of Homeland Security, not to mention financial history checks and visits from social workers.
Bethany checks in with its new families two weeks after an adoption and again at the six-month and one-year marks, she said. Social workers check to make sure the children are bonding with their new families and look for signs of attachment disorders or other problems.
RELATED
Wilson County parents charged in beating death of 4-year-old
Metro's Most Wanted & Arrested
Adoption "can be a shock to your system," she said, explaining the reasons for the home visits. "We stress the importance of staying connected with the family, not just the two-week visit but beyond."
The local Bethany office has placed 25 children with new families so far this year, Bass said.
"This isn't the norm, when you look at how many children" are thriving and happy in their new homes, she said. "But the fact that a lot of (adoptions) are going really well doesn't take away from this tragedy."
Contact Jennifer Brooks at 615-259-8892 or jabrooks@tennessean.com.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100718/NEWS03/7180359/Another-adoption-tragedy-taints-Tennessee
Death of child may cause international backlash
BY JENNIFER BROOKS • THE TENNESSEAN • JULY 18, 2010
This was supposed to be Kairissa XingJing Mark's forever home.
On March 29, the 4-year-old's new family brought her home from China to a big brick house in a cozy Mt. Juliet subdivision that is the picture of the American Dream. There was a big fenced-in yard for her to play in and pretty pink curtains in the upstairs bedroom window. In the window next to the door, someone had taped a child's coloring of a religious scene, the Good Shepherd guarding his flock.
But three months after her adoption, Kairissa is dead, her adoptive family is shattered and the international adoption community is reeling from the news of yet another horror story out of Tennessee.
Kairissa's mother, Dr. Deborah Wen Yee Mark, a pediatrician, stands accused of beating her to death. Last week, a Wilson County grand jury indicted Mark on one count of first-degree murder and eight counts of child abuse. It also indicted her husband, Steven Joshua Mark, a stay-at-home dad, on multiple counts of aggravated child abuse, child abuse, failure to protect and of being an accessory after the fact.
RELATED
Wilson County parents charged in beating death of 4-year-old
Metro's Most Wanted & Arrested
The couple's 8-year-old biological daughter is in foster care. Police say she told them she witnessed some of the attacks on her little sister.
Court Date Set
The Marks will be arraigned Friday and they intend to plead not guilty, said their attorney, Jack Lowery Jr. Kairissa died at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital on July 2, one day after police were summoned to the family home by a report of a child in distress. Lowery said the fact the case is already heading to court shows signs of a "rush to judgment."
The fact that a pediatrician, someone who devoted her entire career to protecting other people's children, is accused of killing one of her own adds to the horror of this case. Those who know the Marks best aren't talking — their neighbors, their congregation at the Donelson Fellowship Free Will Baptist Church, where they worshipped, her colleagues at Centennial Pediatrics in Lebanon.
"She's a lady who, in the past several days, I have received numerous calls in support of, telling me what wonderful care she took of (her patients') children," Lowery said. "This is just a quality family. They attended church here. They were very involved. They have suffered. Their lives have absolutely been turned upside down."
The Marks, he said, spent a number of years attempting to adopt from China. It's a process that has become increasingly difficult over the years, as more and more countries have tightened their restrictions on international adoptions to the United States.
Russian Case Was Shock
In April, news broke that an adoptive mother from Tennessee had put her 6-year-old son on a plane back to Russia, with a note saying she no longer wanted him. The incident sparked an international uproar and threats of a moratorium on further adoptions from Russia.
"We do expect changes to happen," said Chuck Johnson, CEO of the National Council for Adoption, who has been in contact with the Chinese government about the case. Overall, rates of abuse of adopted children tend to be lower than among biological children, he said, but "every tragedy is one too many."
RELATED
Wilson County parents charged in beating death of 4-year-old
Metro's Most Wanted & Arrested
China probably would hold off on any policy changes until there is a conviction, but Johnson said there is already talk of requiring additional follow-up visits after an adoption. Right now, China's minimum requirements are home visits at the six-month and one-year mark after an adoption.
"It's so unfortunate. Our hearts just break," Johnson said. "We see the motivation and desire of most families who just want to bring a child out of an institution and give them a home, have someone to call them Mom and Dad. … And then to see something like this happen."
China Cracks Down
Local adoption agencies also are bracing for a possible backlash.
China has already cracked down on U.S. adoptions in recent years — it now bans adoptions by single women, anyone who has ever taken medication for depression and anyone with a body mass index of 40 or higher.
International adoptions have nosedived from a peak of 22,739 children brought into the United States in 2005 to fewer than 13,000 in 2009. The average wait to adopt a child from China ranges from more than four years, for parents who want to adopt a perfectly healthy child, to an average of nine months to two years for those willing to adopt a "waiting child" — one with a diagnosed health problem.
Families Screened
Prospective families undergo rigorous scrutiny, including background checks, home visits and interviews with friends and family members. The Marks worked with an as yet unidentified Nashville adoption agency, but most agencies in the area follow the same basic precautions.
Bethany Christian Services, a national adoption agency with an office in Nashville, declined to say whether it was the agency that helped the Mark family adopt Kairissa. But Tammy Bass, director of Middle Tennessee Bethany, noted that any couple looking to adopt overseas would have to run through the same rigorous background check — starting with local criminal history checks and running all the way up to a screening by the Department of Homeland Security, not to mention financial history checks and visits from social workers.
Bethany checks in with its new families two weeks after an adoption and again at the six-month and one-year marks, she said. Social workers check to make sure the children are bonding with their new families and look for signs of attachment disorders or other problems.
RELATED
Wilson County parents charged in beating death of 4-year-old
Metro's Most Wanted & Arrested
Adoption "can be a shock to your system," she said, explaining the reasons for the home visits. "We stress the importance of staying connected with the family, not just the two-week visit but beyond."
The local Bethany office has placed 25 children with new families so far this year, Bass said.
"This isn't the norm, when you look at how many children" are thriving and happy in their new homes, she said. "But the fact that a lot of (adoptions) are going really well doesn't take away from this tragedy."
Contact Jennifer Brooks at 615-259-8892 or jabrooks@tennessean.com.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100718/NEWS03/7180359/Another-adoption-tragedy-taints-Tennessee
“BEST PRACTICES IN TERMINATION AND ADOPTION CASES
From: “BEST PRACTICES IN TERMINATION AND ADOPTION CASES A Report from the Best Practices in Adoptions Workshops A Project of the Georgia Model Courts Project.” It is on the web at:http://www.georgiacourts.org/agencies/cpp/pdf/Best%20Practices%20in%20Adoption%20and%20Termination.Word001.pdf
The American family unit as we once knew it is being destroyed!
How much longer are we going to stand for this?
They are stealing America’s children!
The time for a plan of action is now!
It’s time to gather on line, in person or both, to create a plan of action together
That will put us in a position to:
” Demand the immediate return of our children to their biological families
” Insist on accountability from those who knowingly participated in or allowed this pattern of maltreatment of American families to continue:
o reform or disablement of involved organizations
§ criminal prosecution
· Judge and attorney disbarment
” Including united states government and non-government employees:
o federal government
§ state government
· local government including
o non-profit organizations
” Avenues to consider:
§ nonviolent protests
o meetings
§ testimonial hearings
· massive class action law suits
o by individual state
§ national
Hi,
Wanted to let you know I’m incorporating a section for those of us who are grieving the loss of our children or grandchildren whether taken away by the State or by death. PTSD and Prolonged grief is common in our situation. However it can lead to complicated grief if not dealt with. If you feel the need please join me as I hope to bring some comfort and peace to our lives. We need to be strong later too!
Thank you,
Callie Thornton
Qualifications-
Experience through the school of life
Developed and administered "Children in Heaven" On line support group for 9 years.
Lost my 8 year old in 1997 to death
Lost my 18 month old grand baby in 2010 stolen by the state.
"Sometimes we need somebody to lean on"
Parental Rights II Follow
Callie Thornton
Parental Rights Advocate
www.parentalrights2.blogspot.com
Contact: Callie Thornton innerpeace5@att.net
The American family unit as we once knew it is being destroyed!
How much longer are we going to stand for this?
They are stealing America’s children!
The time for a plan of action is now!
It’s time to gather on line, in person or both, to create a plan of action together
That will put us in a position to:
” Demand the immediate return of our children to their biological families
” Insist on accountability from those who knowingly participated in or allowed this pattern of maltreatment of American families to continue:
o reform or disablement of involved organizations
§ criminal prosecution
· Judge and attorney disbarment
” Including united states government and non-government employees:
o federal government
§ state government
· local government including
o non-profit organizations
” Avenues to consider:
§ nonviolent protests
o meetings
§ testimonial hearings
· massive class action law suits
o by individual state
§ national
Hi,
Wanted to let you know I’m incorporating a section for those of us who are grieving the loss of our children or grandchildren whether taken away by the State or by death. PTSD and Prolonged grief is common in our situation. However it can lead to complicated grief if not dealt with. If you feel the need please join me as I hope to bring some comfort and peace to our lives. We need to be strong later too!
Thank you,
Callie Thornton
Qualifications-
Experience through the school of life
Developed and administered "Children in Heaven" On line support group for 9 years.
Lost my 8 year old in 1997 to death
Lost my 18 month old grand baby in 2010 stolen by the state.
"Sometimes we need somebody to lean on"
Parental Rights II Follow
Callie Thornton
Parental Rights Advocate
www.parentalrights2.blogspot.com
Contact: Callie Thornton innerpeace5@att.net
"IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD"
Parental Rights II
Callie Thornton
"IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD"
Are you and your child victims of CPS?
Did CPS take your child from you and put them in protective custody?
Do you know why they took your child?
Are you a victim of false allegations?
While trying to work a case plan, has your case worker ever said things to you regarding the foster parents wanting to adopt your child or something to that effect?
Did the case worker do this repetitiously in an attempt to upset you enough to set you back on working the case plan?
Did CPS and the court system lead you and your child to believe that you were working toward reunification?
Did cps, whether you had done anything wrong or not, file a termination of parental rights petition against you?
Were you told it was only to get an extension or for some reason other than termination?
Did the judge terminate your parental rights to your child?
Before permanently severing the parental rights to your child, for the rest of your life, had you been tried and convicted of child abuse or any child neglect crime in a criminal court of law?
Did the judge and CPS still allow you and your child visitation until the TPR?
Did your court appointed attorney help you or help the Plaintiff's case more?
Was your judge the same one you had been in front of since the beginning?
Did the judge at any time seem to be bias at all toward you?
Was this “one” person the judge, the jury and the executioner in your case?
Did your case worker and/or others have smiles on their faces during your sentencing?
Did the case worker offer you any services at all to help you through the grief of losing your child?
Has your child been adopted by the foster parents?
Did you know that this was planned from the time they took your child?
Did you know that they would have just as soon stopped visitation and contact between you and your child after filing the TPR petition?
At what point should reunification services be discontinued? The best practice is to continue to offer reunification services until the petition to terminate parental rights isheard unless there is a specific finding by the Court that continuation of reunification efforts is, in fact, detrimental to the child. This is a high threshold that should not be compromised. Discontinuation of reunification services is not a condition precedent to the filing of a termination action and, in fact, discontinuation of reunification services prior to termination seems to be in disfavor with the Court of Appeals. The Workgroup believes that, unless actual harm would result to the child, reunification services should continue to be offered up to the time parental rights are terminated. There was some concern expressed about this practice making for unnecessary work for the Agency and the panels. However, the reunification plan is already in place and all that has to be done is to monitor progress. Also, in most of these cases, the parents are not, in fact, accessing the services offered anyway, so there is not a lot of work involved in offering and monitoring services. We believe that the value in offering the services and the impact that may have in the appellate courts outweighs the disadvantages of continuing to offer services. This approach also allows us to avoid the necessity of having a permanency hearing except in cases where it is absolutely necessary, that is where actual detriment to the child can be clearly established. Keep in mind also that, if the time frames proposed herein are met, we are not talking about continuing to offer the services for an extended period of time.
http://networkedblogs.com/blog/parental_rights_ii/?ahash=595855bec7e6ed9a71f9b2a0fbea6d60
Callie Thornton
"IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD"
Are you and your child victims of CPS?
Did CPS take your child from you and put them in protective custody?
Do you know why they took your child?
Are you a victim of false allegations?
While trying to work a case plan, has your case worker ever said things to you regarding the foster parents wanting to adopt your child or something to that effect?
Did the case worker do this repetitiously in an attempt to upset you enough to set you back on working the case plan?
Did CPS and the court system lead you and your child to believe that you were working toward reunification?
Did cps, whether you had done anything wrong or not, file a termination of parental rights petition against you?
Were you told it was only to get an extension or for some reason other than termination?
Did the judge terminate your parental rights to your child?
Before permanently severing the parental rights to your child, for the rest of your life, had you been tried and convicted of child abuse or any child neglect crime in a criminal court of law?
Did the judge and CPS still allow you and your child visitation until the TPR?
Did your court appointed attorney help you or help the Plaintiff's case more?
Was your judge the same one you had been in front of since the beginning?
Did the judge at any time seem to be bias at all toward you?
Was this “one” person the judge, the jury and the executioner in your case?
Did your case worker and/or others have smiles on their faces during your sentencing?
Did the case worker offer you any services at all to help you through the grief of losing your child?
Has your child been adopted by the foster parents?
Did you know that this was planned from the time they took your child?
Did you know that they would have just as soon stopped visitation and contact between you and your child after filing the TPR petition?
At what point should reunification services be discontinued? The best practice is to continue to offer reunification services until the petition to terminate parental rights isheard unless there is a specific finding by the Court that continuation of reunification efforts is, in fact, detrimental to the child. This is a high threshold that should not be compromised. Discontinuation of reunification services is not a condition precedent to the filing of a termination action and, in fact, discontinuation of reunification services prior to termination seems to be in disfavor with the Court of Appeals. The Workgroup believes that, unless actual harm would result to the child, reunification services should continue to be offered up to the time parental rights are terminated. There was some concern expressed about this practice making for unnecessary work for the Agency and the panels. However, the reunification plan is already in place and all that has to be done is to monitor progress. Also, in most of these cases, the parents are not, in fact, accessing the services offered anyway, so there is not a lot of work involved in offering and monitoring services. We believe that the value in offering the services and the impact that may have in the appellate courts outweighs the disadvantages of continuing to offer services. This approach also allows us to avoid the necessity of having a permanency hearing except in cases where it is absolutely necessary, that is where actual detriment to the child can be clearly established. Keep in mind also that, if the time frames proposed herein are met, we are not talking about continuing to offer the services for an extended period of time.
http://networkedblogs.com/blog/parental_rights_ii/?ahash=595855bec7e6ed9a71f9b2a0fbea6d60
RESCUE YOUR CHILDREN FROM SOCIAL SERVICES CARE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkjD7Bj3oU0&feature=related
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