GUILTY WA - Hana Williams, 13, Sedro-Woolley, 12 May 2011

[Saffie]

I have a friend who has adopted children and bio children. One of her adopted children is from a country similar to ethiopia, if not that country. I just can't recall exactly. By far, that child is unexpectedly and reportedly the most entitled, outgoing, disruptive and undisciplined of all of their children by a LONG shot. I would say selfish, aggressive, materialistic, manipulative, and similar compared to the other children. Which blows my mind considering you would think that a child coming from insanely deprived circumstances would be the opposite of that compared to an adopted US child--which they also have and he really is just the opposite. Also, you'd think a child raised in a horrid environment would have a heightened survival instinct that would cause them to stop behavior before it got to the point that the "punishment" was life threatening. I just don't get it!

jmo

I agree. You just don't get it.

I hope your friend and the child(ren?) she adopted from Africa reach out for help and counseling. Many of these children have had very difficult lives and adapting to a very different culture and new family can be incredibly traumatic. Many adoptive parents underestimate the issues prior to adoption. Friends and acquaintances who don't understand the issues can make life more difficult for the children who need support.

Poor Hana and Immanuel Williams were starved, beaten and tortured by a couple who lacked any understand the issues and whose methods of "discipline" should never have been used on any child.

That said, I came here today to post an excellent article, IMO, on the Williams case and the difficulties faced by other Ethiopian adoptees in the USA that may help improve understanding in general.

http://www.slate.com/articles/doubl...of_an_ethiopian_adoptee_and_how_it_could.html

 

[CastlesBurning]

Unfortunately, I can't find any updates newer than this summer of 2019 one:

S-W couple convicted of killing adopted daughter denied release

A state appeals court has denied petitions from a Sedro-Woolley-area couple convicted of charges relating to the death of their adopted daughter to be released from prison.

Larry and Carri Williams in separate petitions filed in the state Court of Appeals District 1 in September 2017, asked the court of appeals to remand their cases back to Skagit County Superior Court based on what they believed to be errors made by their lawyers and the judge during their 2013 trial.

They also requested to be released from prison while they awaited those new trials.

The Williamses were convicted of first-degree manslaughter in the death of Hana Williams and first-degree assault of a child for abusing her younger brother, both of whom were adopted from Ethiopia.

Carri Williams was also convicted of homicide by abuse for the death of the Hana, a teenager, who collapsed in her family’s backyard after being outside for hours. An autopsy showed she died of hypothermia hastened by malnutrition.

In oral arguments held before the court in June, the Williamses claimed that, because of errors during their trial, their convictions were not constitutional, and therefore neither were their incarcerations.

The appeals court on Monday denied their requests.