From the New York Times, Newsday:

Two officials of New York City’s child-welfare agency and the fiscal director of a Brooklyn foster care agency have been charged with creating phantom adoptions in a scheme to pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars intended for the care of children with disabilities or special needs, federal authorities said on Wednesday.

… The announcement of the charges came a day after the sentencing of Judith Leekin, who was convicted of fraud after she adopted 11 children under four aliases and collected $1.68 million in payments meant for the children’s care, which she used to support a lavish lifestyle. Ms. Leekin was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison.

From the New York Times, AP/USA Today:

A woman from Trinidad who lied to adopt 11 disabled American children and collect $1.68 million in adoption benefits has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for a scheme that a federal judge described as “diabolical.”

Judith Leekin (left) is also accused of treating the children like prisoners, subjecting them to beatings and handcuffs while keeping them in a locked room without food, depriving them of medical care and not allowing them to go to school. Prosecutors said she used money meant for the children’s care to support a lavish lifestyle.

Authorities said the children were so physically and emotionally abused they can never recover. One of the children, who had Down syndrome, autism and sickle cell anemia, is missing and presumed dead. Some of the children reported being told that he had been buried in the backyard.

If Leekin is convicted on the remaining 10 counts, including aggravated child abuse and aggravated abuse of disabled adults, she could face as many as 120 years in prison.

(Scripps photo in USA Today)

From the Chicago Tribune:

Adolescents who were adopted as infants are significantly more likely to have a psychiatric disorder as those who were not adopted, a study released Monday has found.

While emphasizing that most of the adoptees in the study were psychologically healthy and faring well, the researchers said that as a group they faced a greater risk for two psychiatric conditions: attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder.

… [Lead study author Margaret Keyes of the University of Minnesota] stressed that the study should not alarm adoptive parents. Being born male-adopted or not-also is a risk factor for disruptive behavior disorders, she noted, “but no one is overly concerned when they give birth to a son.”

The study was published in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Brownback and Kennedy do the right thing

By Wesley J. Smith in the Weekly Standard:

It is a bitter irony that even as we are enlarging our commitment to human equality in many areas, we are turning our backs on it in others. In particular, we may be about to eliminate from our society people with Down syndrome (DS) and other genetically caused disabilities.

With the development of prenatal genetic diagnosis, the drive toward eugenics has returned with a vengeance. Americans may heartily cheer participants in the Special Olympics, but we abort some 90 percent of all gestating infants diagnosed with genetic disabilities such as DS, dwarfism, and spina bifida.

… What Kennedy and Brownback hope to provide to parents of genetically disabled babies is the legal assurance that they will be provided information that is complete and informed — rather than counseling tainted by prejudice, ignorance, or fear. The Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Condition Awareness Act may have a clunky name, but it is a noble and practical bill that deserves the support not only of those ideological opposites Kennedy and Brownback — but also of everybody in between.

From the Tri-City (Washington) Herald:

A bill making its way through Congress brings a rare chance for both sides of the abortion debate to come together in a humane way.

The bill, backed by Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., would create a national registry for families willing to adopt babies born with Down syndrome, spina bifida, cystic fibrosis or dwarfism. It would cost about $5 million.

… this is an effort well worth the time and money it will take to set it up.

… A national registry would give pregnant women who might not carry their babies to term another option: A warm and accepting home with parents who are willing to accept the extra responsibilities such children represent.

The headline on a story by Rob Hotakainen in the Wichita Eagle describes the Prenatally and Postnally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act as an “abortion bill.” The measure, co-sponsored by Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), at left, and Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), would provide for accurate medical information to be offered to parents who receive a diagnosis of a disability either before birth or up to a year after the birth of a child.

Hotakainen describes the bill as one that “aims to reduce the number of abortions tied to genetic disorders.” He says Brownback views the bill as part of his campaign for “the culture of life,” and describes Brownback as saying that “children with special needs are viewed as being specially touched by God” in some cultures. Kennedy’s office declined to comment on the legislation, which passed a Senate committee recently. An excerpt:

“We’re just saying, instead of killing the children, let them live,” Brownback said … Currently, Brownback said, 90 percent of pregnancies are aborted when a genetic test shows that a fetus will develop into a child with Down syndrome, spina bifida, cystic fibrosis or dwarfism.

… “I’d like to see it come way down,” Brownback said. “I think these children are beautiful and sacred children, and they should be allowed the chance to live.”

(more…)

From the [New Orleans] Times Picayune:

Gilda Reed, Democratic candidate for Louisiana’s open 1st Congressional district seat, defies conventional wisdom. She is a survivor of childhood polio, and adopted a son with cerebral palsy after being told by doctors that he would “probably be a vegetable.” Her son is now a college graduate.

“Polio has taught me that you have to fight for what you have,” said Reed, who wears leg braces and gets around with help from a walker. “The word ‘can’t’ is a four-letter word at my house. I don’t want to hear it.”