AR - Rep. Harris rehomed his adopted daughter to man who sexually abused her

daisy7

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On April 4, 2014, a 38-year-old resident of Bella Vista named Eric Cameron Francis was arrested by the Arkansas State Police for the rape of a 6-year-old girl in what the police said was his temporary care. Sexual crimes against children always attract a certain horrified attention, but this particular case earned additional scrutiny because Francis had recently worked as head teacher at a Christian preschool in West Fork owned by state Rep. Justin Harris (R-West Fork) and his wife, Marsha.

Harris, who said he was "devastated and sickened" by news of the abuse, told the Arkansas Times in April 2014 that Francis had been in his employ only about three months, from November 2013 to January 2014, before being fired for poor work attendance.

(snip)

What Harris did not publicly disclose last spring, however, is how Francis came into contact with the 6-year-old victim. In prosecutor documents recently obtained by the Arkansas Times, state police investigators and multiple witnesses concur that the child was in fact the legally adopted daughter of Justin and Marsha Harris.

(snip)

After her husband's arrest, Stacey Francis told a state police investigator that she and Eric "met [the girls] through friends of theirs, Justin and Marsha Harris, who were looking for a new adoption plan for themselves ... Stacey Francis reported that she and Eric Francis brought [the girls] into their home with the hopes of being able to adopt them." The Francises already had three older children — two girls and a boy — who were adopted internationally. Stacey Francis said the Harris girls stayed with her and Eric "until February or March of 2014." That means the Harrises left the girls with Eric Francis and his wife even after firing him.

The sexual abuse of the 6-year-old girl came to light only because of a call placed to the state's child maltreatment hotline on Friday, March 28, from an unidentified caller who said the Harrises "gave their adoptive children to a family" and "that family in turn gave the children to another family" and that they had "continued to accept adoption subsidy money even after giving the children away." Investigators evidently determined that this third home was a safe place for the girls because they remain there today.

(snip)

Although the hotline caller alleged that Justin and Marsha Harris had given away their adopted children, no criminal charges were brought against them, according to Sadler.

If some readers are startled to learn that it's legal for adoptive parents to give their children to another family, they're in good company.

(snip)

http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/a-child-left-unprotected/Content?oid=3691164

Much, much more at the link.
 
On April 4, 2014, a 38-year-old resident of Bella Vista named Eric Cameron Francis was arrested by the Arkansas State Police for the rape of a 6-year-old girl in what the police said was his temporary care. Sexual crimes against children always attract a certain horrified attention, but this particular case earned additional scrutiny because Francis had recently worked as head teacher at a Christian preschool in West Fork owned by state Rep. Justin Harris (R-West Fork) and his wife, Marsha.

Harris, who said he was "devastated and sickened" by news of the abuse, told the Arkansas Times in April 2014 that Francis had been in his employ only about three months, from November 2013 to January 2014, before being fired for poor work attendance.

(snip)

What Harris did not publicly disclose last spring, however, is how Francis came into contact with the 6-year-old victim. In prosecutor documents recently obtained by the Arkansas Times, state police investigators and multiple witnesses concur that the child was in fact the legally adopted daughter of Justin and Marsha Harris.

(snip)

After her husband's arrest, Stacey Francis told a state police investigator that she and Eric "met [the girls] through friends of theirs, Justin and Marsha Harris, who were looking for a new adoption plan for themselves ... Stacey Francis reported that she and Eric Francis brought [the girls] into their home with the hopes of being able to adopt them." The Francises already had three older children — two girls and a boy — who were adopted internationally. Stacey Francis said the Harris girls stayed with her and Eric "until February or March of 2014." That means the Harrises left the girls with Eric Francis and his wife even after firing him.

The sexual abuse of the 6-year-old girl came to light only because of a call placed to the state's child maltreatment hotline on Friday, March 28, from an unidentified caller who said the Harrises "gave their adoptive children to a family" and "that family in turn gave the children to another family" and that they had "continued to accept adoption subsidy money even after giving the children away." Investigators evidently determined that this third home was a safe place for the girls because they remain there today.

(snip)

Although the hotline caller alleged that Justin and Marsha Harris had given away their adopted children, no criminal charges were brought against them, according to Sadler.

If some readers are startled to learn that it's legal for adoptive parents to give their children to another family, they're in good company.

(snip)

http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/a-child-left-unprotected/Content?oid=3691164

Much, much more at the link.

Yes and it appears that a DOJ investigation into this Arkansas legislator and Arkansas DHHS is more than warranted at this time. Stipends for adoptions, stipends for foster care, are opportunities for corruption and abuse. Where there is smoke, there is fire.

JMO
 
A folllow up story on Rep Nate Bell who contacted the reporter about his friend Harris and told him he (the reporter)would burn in hell:

LINK HERE

I got a text from a colleague of Harris — Rep. Nate Bell, Republican of Mena. He informed me that I'm going to burn in hell for writing the article exposing Harris, who he describes as "a good man ... who has given [his] life to helping vulnerable children." I, on the other hand, am described by Bell as "the lowest fork [sic] of muckracking slime on earth."

Additionally:

UPDATE FROM MAX: This afternoon, Rep. Greg Leding filed a bill to make it a felony to transfer an adopted child to anyone but a relative. This appears a frontal assault on "rehoming." Hmmm. Might that go to the child welfare committee of which Harris is vice chair?
 
According to Wells, Rep. Harris will hold a press conference Friday afternoon in Little Rock.

(snip)

After dodging reporters Wednesday, Harris began Thursday in the Education Committee on which he serves. We caught up with him as he rushed off to another meeting.

"I have a wife and three boys at home. I've gotten death threats," explained Harris.

Harris says that there was more to the story than the 67 page affidavit revealed.*

"The truth is going to come out," he said.

(Snip)

http://www.katv.com/story/28275765/rep-justin-harris-speaks-about-rehoming-daughterssort-of
 
Prayers for this little girl, what a horrible short life she has had. I pray that her new family has the strength and compassion to see this little girl through her difficult life journey.

I'm shocked, I didn't know that you could just rehome an adopted child, like no big deal.

I hope with this story coming to light that it brings about change in legislation that protects adopted children from having this happen.

It horrifies me to think of how many little children may have been rehomed with monsters,
 
Channel 7 showed up at the session Thursday afternoon, but Harris didn't. Fifteen bills were explained and passed, but none of them by Rep. Harris who we learned was consulting with a public relations firm regarding his upcoming statement instead of voting.

Harris did not fulfill the promise he made only hours before when we agreed to postpone the interview so he wouldn't be late for his meeting. Channel 7 spoke with House leadership and with a fellow representative who was in contact with Harris. KATV was told to expect a press release this afternoon - which we have yet to receive - and that Harris would talk on camera tomorrow.

From your link, daisy7
 
There isnt too much to explain. He rehomed his children to the home of someone who raped the 6 year old and he did it in order to AVOID abandonment charges. It was a calculated move in order to AVOID the consequences of abandoning children they didnt want any more.

There isnt too much I am going to want to hear that justifies this.

I bet those girls are thriving now. Because that is what happens with babies like these ones. Kate Parker, the medical child abuse monster on trial in WA, dumped some of her adopted children after torturing them with unwarranted medical procedures. Those babies are doing fantastic. Funny happens when you actually care for the children you agree to love. It isnt easy-I am not saying it is.
 
And, he did it after having the girls 6 months!! I'm curious if he adopted them close to his election. I gotta check the dates.
 
I'm not convinced that the rehoming wasn't intentional in the first place. That seems like an awfully short time to give up on children after jumping through all the hoops for adoption. It makes me wonder if his friend couldn't get approved for adoption and so he was doing him a favor.
 
I want to get back to my original comments about the ages of the children in the Harris home. The children who were dumped were 6 and 3 years of age. The children living in the Harris home were OLDER.

The Harrises had adopted the girl and her 3-year-old sister through the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS). The couple also has three biological sons who are older than the girls.

After 6 months of living with these babies, the Harris' claim that their pediatrician recommended that the girls be dumped on another home because of reactive attachment disorder. And naturally they chose the home of the man that Harris fired for "poor job performance."

Sort of not hard to read into that generic termination phrase.

There is much more to all of the stories. But the fact that Francis deliberately waited until his wife was out of town to victimize the 6 year old and then the subsequent dump of the girls again...It is very difficult not to be extremely cynical regarding all of this. The continued collection of adoption subsidies by which couple? I am unclear.
 
I am curious, too, about which couple received the subsidies after the re-homing - the Harrises or the Francises? The article only says "they". I'm gonna guess the Harrises did not send the monthly subsidy to the Francises but rather kept it for themselves. All of this in the name of God, right? They ALL ought to be ashamed.
 
uggg, pardon me if this rehoming thing just sounds like a breeding ground for pedos to pass around the goods all perfectly legally. And really who is going to believe the kids? they are, after all, "damaged"
 
Timeline:

September 2012 or before -- girls entered the Harris home for a required 6 month in-home trial before adoption papers were signed

November 6, 2012 -- Harris elected to his second term of 2 years

March 6, 2013 -- Harris and his wife officially adopted the girls

October 2013 -- The girls were sent to live with the Francis family

November 2013 to January 2014 -- Francis was employed as a head teacher at a Christian preschool in West Fork owned by state Rep. Justin Harris and his wife, Marsha., before being fired for poor work attendance

January 2014 -- Francis told LE he sexually abused the child while his wife was out of town

Feb or March 2014 -- girls were sent to live with a third family

March 28, 2014 -- call to the state abuse hotline about the children given away by the Harris family

April 4, 2014 -- Eric Francis arrested for rape of the 6yo girl and investigators uncovered at least two other incidents of sexual abuse of children in the community outside of the school.

November 2014 -- Francis was sentenced to 40 years in prison on a negotiated plea
 
tlcya, I am completely with you. When Kate Parker dumped hers with an alleged supporter she had never met, I felt that there was a new possible cottage industry for child sex trafficking. Fortunately, her adopted children thrived. There is much more to this story. I am sure that LE will have more to say. jmvho.
 
Timeline:

September 2012 or before -- girls entered the Harris home for a required 6 month in-home trial before adoption papers were signed

November 6, 2012 -- Harris elected to his second term of 2 years

March 6, 2013 -- Harris and his wife officially adopted the girls

October 2013 -- The girls were sent to live with the Francis family

November 2013 to January 2014 -- Francis was employed as a head teacher at a Christian preschool in West Fork owned by state Rep. Justin Harris and his wife, Marsha., before being fired for poor work attendance

January 2014 -- Francis told LE he sexually abused the child while his wife was out of town

Feb or March 2014 -- girls were sent to live with a third family

March 28, 2014 -- call to the state abuse hotline about the children given away by the Harris family

April 4, 2014 -- Eric Francis arrested for rape of the 6yo girl and investigators uncovered at least two other incidents of sexual abuse of children in the community outside of the school.

November 2014 -- Francis was sentenced to 40 years in prison on a negotiated plea

:thud:
 
I had no idea this re homing of adopted children took place. Thank you for posting this case. I hope Rep. Harris is charged and goes to jail, along with his wife. Heinous. Unconscionable. Cockroaches who scatter when the light comes on. I have more descriptives, but you all get the idea. IMO
 
I am curious, too, about which couple received the subsidies after the re-homing - the Harrises or the Francises? The article only says "they". I'm gonna guess the Harrises did not send the monthly subsidy to the Francises but rather kept it for themselves. All of this in the name of God, right? They ALL ought to be ashamed.

And, did the Harris' claim the adoption credit on their 2013 federal tax return even though they had given the girls away before the end of the year?
 
Prayers for this little girl, what a horrible short life she has had. I pray that her new family has the strength and compassion to see this little girl through her difficult life journey.

I'm shocked, I didn't know that you could just rehome an adopted child, like no big deal.

I hope with this story coming to light that it brings about change in legislation that protects adopted children from having this happen.

It horrifies me to think of how many little children may have been rehomed with monsters,

This is about rehoming of US adoptions of international children and it is horrible :( http://www.reuters.com/investigates/adoption/#article/part1

Who knows how many children adopted in the US were then rehomed to another family. I don't even know what the rehoming laws are in the other states.

The shelter tells you that if can't keep an adopted animal to bring it back, but parents can just basically give away their adopted kids???!!!!
 

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