GUILTY MN - Russell & Mona Hauer for starving adopted 8yo son, North Mankato, 2012

This is immensely disturbing.

Beat with a broom handle, forced tosleep in basment in plastic sled with an alarm, had to steal rancid food or food from bird feeder.


http://www.kare11.com/news/article/997240/396/N-Mankato-parents-charged-with-starving-child


It just goes on. The other kids were questioned and admitted they all ate solid food and the boy was given just liquid. When he wet to bed (in this case sled) his sister had to hose him down in the backyard.

It sounds as though the parents are saying e he had that condition where you have to just keep eating and eating, but....................
 
These cases are so often difficult to unravel. Horrible, horrible situation but BEFORE he was adopted, he was determined to need psychotherapy and other therapies. It so often happens that one child, who is severely ill or mentally ill to begin with, can become much worsened in a home while the other children who start out as mainstream kids do okay. There were other adopted children in the home, apparently who were in good condition.

So sad. Prayers somehow he recovers to the point that he can have some quality of life - although it's unclear how closely he could ever have approached "normal".

It seems kids who are adopted out with mental/physical health conditions require extra state supervision so this doesn't happen as often.
 
Just looked real quick. The adopted/foster vs. bio drives me crazy! People are People, period! I have step-parents. I call them Mom and Dad - drives my husband crazy because he says, 'which Dad?' (bio Mom is with Jesus). My MIL couldn't believe when I told her that ALL of my parents and siblings (full, half, adopted and step) sat at the same table at my Grandmother's funeral. I guess we are 'unusual.'

This has harmed ALL of the children involved! :please: for ALL of them!

jmo

Sorry for the rant. People matter because they are People!
 
Key words here - in both articles:

A therapist who had examined the boy before he was adopted said he exhibited "very serious, trauma-based symptoms" that would require psychotherapy and other therapies. Records show the Hauers never followed through on those recommendations.

bbm
 
How disturbing!

mikkismom - I'm with you on the family situation. My Mama includes my husband as her own. Our son is adopted and he is our son, not our "adopted" son - unless I'm speaking about adoption specifically. My son is my heart! And, my husband has 3 half-brothers and they are his "brothers" and mine.
 
Couple accused of starving son retains custody of other children

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=1000223&odyssey=obinsite

MANKATO, Minn. - A North Mankato couple accused of starving their adopted son will temporarily keep parental rights to their other three children. ............

Judge Westphal ruled against terminating the Hauer's parental rights to their other children, two boys and a girl between the ages of five and ten. He did impose conditions, like mandating full access to the children and the Hauer's property by a Guardian ad Litem and agents of Nicollet County Social Services. ............

Judge Westphal ruled that the 8-year-old will remain in foster care, and should be enrolled in school. Prosecutors say he is thriving, having gained more than 15 pounds and two inches in height since leaving the Hauer home.

More at link....
 
I am wondering about the references to adopted child in the story. Were they in the process of adopting the child or was he already legally adopted. If he was already legally adopted, then he is their child-period. I'm not sure why they keep pushing that other than the fact that he had medical issues prior to the placement and subsequent adoption? I'm not sure.

I always say my children "were" adopted rather than "are" adopted. Adoption is a one-time event like being born. You wouldn't say my child "is" born 3 years ago, you would say "was" born 3 years ago. So my children don't continue to be "adopted" for their rest of the their lives. It's a small difference, but an important one to me. Once you adopt a child they are your child in every single legal and emotional purpose as a biologically bornn child. I have several friends who have both adopted and biological children and they all tell me there is no difference in their love for the child. There is also no difference in your legal obligation for them.

I am not sure of this case, as when you adopt a child, there is a very long set of hearings, background checks, etc...as well as terminating the rights of the biological parents. It's a lenghty and involved process, and I am certain that this child's special needs had been completely divulged to the adoptive parents and they agreed to care for him properly. Obviously, they didn't.

So I would like to learn more about the case. I don't typically hear about cases where there is abuse of one child and the others are kept with the parents. I know in my state, in order to terminate parental rights, you must first adjudicate them as an "unfit parent." Once you are adjudicated to be an unfit parent-that means you are unfit to be a parent to any child-whether existing or in the future. (i.e. an unfit parent loses custody of any children born to them immediately upon birth.)

So I will dig a little more into this case and find out exactly what went on. Something doesn't sit right with me. Either their state is very different from mine, or this judge doesn't know or understand the law. If that child was legallly adopted, it doesn't give the parents any considerations for the difference in care.
 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/06/mona-and-russell-hauer-starved-8-year-old-son_n_2081645.htmlhttp://

This story says that the boy had two bio siblings who were also in the home but not starved. The mother homeschooled the children, which sadly means that other adults able to see that something was seriously wrong could easily be kept away. She also did not believe in mainstream medicine, but was trying to treat the boy's eating problems holistically. It was a chiropractor who prescribed the liquid diet.

The the article also says that the mother viewed the boy's eating problems as an attempt to control the home. Unfortunately, this attitude is something one sees often in advice about how to handle traumatized children in foster care or adoption, i.e. not to let them use negative behaviors to control their family and environment. Some people take this to such great extremes that they end up harming the children because they think they need to break their will before they can heal them.

Normally a child in foster care would get medical insurance and needed social/psychological services through the state or county, even after a finalized adoption. There should have been social workers checking on this family if the fragility of this child was documented before the adoption.

The system failed this child and his family.
 
11/26/2013
A southern Minnesota mother and father who were accused of starving their adopted 8-year-old son to the point that his bones protruded were sentenced to jail Tuesday on child neglect charges. ...

Mona Hauer was sentenced Tuesday to 60 days in jail, and was taken into custody after the hearing. Her husband, Russell Hauer, was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 15 days of home monitoring. He'll be placed in custody after his wife's sentence is complete. With good behavior, they'll likely serve 40 days and 20 days respectively.

Nicollet County sheriff's investigator Marc Chadderdon said the child is now in foster care and has grown 8 inches and more than doubled his weight in a year.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews...-couple-sentenced-jail-starvation-adopted-son

A few days in jail? They deserved at least a few years in prison!!!
 
Burow's husband, Loren, is Mona Hauer's brother. Robin Burow said the boy and his two siblings, who are still living with the Hauers, were originally brought to them for foster care when they were taken from their birth mother's home. The Burows were happy when they found out the Hauers would be adopting the children and keeping them in the family. That changed about five years ago when Mona Hauer cut off ties with the Burows. They were shocked to see the boy's condition when he was returned to their care during the investigation of the Hauers.

"Those first transitional weeks were pretty rough for everyone," Robin Burow said. "As (the boy) got more comfortable, he shared more and more what life was like with the Hauers. The isolation, corporal punishment and their 'fix-it' plan solutions were just the opposite of what a child of trauma responds positively to.

"Their rigid parenting was like rubbing salt in an open wound, causing pain and adding to his trauma history."

The boy put his statement into story form. The first half of his story talked about a child who was starved, spanked and endured a month of treatment in the hospital. After making it clear the story was really about him, the second half talked about a boy who is "awesome," loves to ride his bike and looks forward to going to school.

It was the comparison of two photographs that "tipped the scales" and made it clear the Hauers deserved jail time, Krehbiel said. One photo was of the boy after he had been taken to the hospital. The other was a recent photo from the Burows, who said his weight has doubled and he has grown nearly 8 inches during the past year. The boy had only gained 5 pounds during the five years he was under the care of the Hauers.

http://m.mankatofreepress.com/news/...9ae-ed7a-5882-a45a-22f1f0dcf1ac.html?mode=jqm
 
I can't believe they got off so lightly.

November 2012:

He was then transferred to Rochester and found to have a slow heartbeat, anemia, brain atrophy and delayed bone growth due to malnutrition, the complaint said...

She told authorities she put the boy on a liquid diet after talking with a chiropractor, according to the complaint.

The complaint said Mona Hauer told authorities the boy's eating habits were his "attempt to be in control of the home and that (he) had in fact controlled the home for some time." She also said she didn't think he was too thin.

Russell Hauer told medical staff that he and his wife withheld food from the boy at least once as a form of punishment, the complaint said. He also told officials the boy "had won or gotten his way" when he was taken to the hospital.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mona-an...s-accused-of-starving-8-year-old-adopted-son/
 

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