Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Notorious "Re-Homing" Couple Sentenced

The Justice Department announced today the sentencing of Nicole and Calvin Eason, each sentenced to serve 40 years in prison for kidnapping and transporting a minor with intent to engage in sexual activity.  The press release described the couple's criminal activities as follows:

Evidence at trial established that in 2006 through 2008, the Easons sought to adopt through an informal process sometimes referred to as private “re-homing,” in which the legal adoptive family can no longer care for a child and transfers the child to another’s custody.  In 2007, the Easons communicated with a minor’s parents about rehoming and misrepresented material facts about their background to gain the parents’ trust, including, among other things, that they had a home study “waiver,” which was used to verify the Easons as fit caregivers.  Based on these misrepresentations, one of the minor’s parents transported the child across state lines in 2007 to live with the Easons.  The minor testified that while in the Easons’ custody for nearly a month, both Nicole and Calvin Eason repeatedly sexually and physically abused her. 

Evidence at trial also established that in 2008, the Easons kidnapped a second minor in the same manner, who was with them for a few days.  That child and a third identified minor victim testified that the Easons subjected the minors to inappropriate sexual behavior and “grooming” while in their custody.  All three minors also testified about the deplorable living conditions in the Eason home.

This couple was profiled in a 2013 investigation by Reuters into the unregulated practice of "re-homing."As the reporter notes, "Had [the re-homing adoptive parent] vetted [the Easons] more closely, she might have discovered what Reuters would learn:

• Child welfare authorities had taken away both of Nicole Eason's biological children years earlier. After a sheriff's deputy helped remove the Easons' second child, a newborn baby boy, the deputy wrote in his report that the "parents have severe psychiatric problems as well with violent tendencies."

• The Easons each had been accused by children they were babysitting of sexual abuse, police reports show. They say they did nothing wrong, and neither was charged.

• The only official document attesting to their parenting skills – one purportedly drafted by a social worker who had inspected the Easons' home – was fake, created by the Easons themselves.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office Report on re-homing defines it as "an unregulated child custody transfer" and focuses on "how this practice relates to adopted children." As the report notes, the prevalence of re-homing of adopted children is difficult to determine because it happens without government oversight and no federal agency is responsible for tracking statistics.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/adoption_law/2016/06/notorious-re-homing-couple-sentenced.html

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