Ohio couple RETURNS the 9-year-old boy that they adopted when he was only 3-months-old

[Rapunzel]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2507660/Ohio-couple-RETURNS-9-year-old-boy-adopted-3-months-old.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Ohio couple RETURNS the 9-year-old boy that they adopted when he was only 3-months-old

PUBLISHED: 21:53 EST, 14 November 2013

Charged: Lisa Davis Cox faces a misdemeanor charge of reckless abandonment of a child after she and her husband allegedly left their adopted son at child services



An Ohio couple have been charged with abandoning their child after they left their adopted son at child services.

Cleveland and Lisa Cox adopted the boy when he was 3-months-old and raised him for the past nine years.

The couple, who also have other children, now face a misdemeanor charge of recklessly abandoning the boy, whose name has not been released, after leaving him at Butler County Children Services last month.

County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said Thursday that he doesn't usually seek indictments in misdemeanor cases but views this as an exceptional case.

'When you are the parent and you recklessly abandon a child or children, there are criminal consequences,' Gmoser said.

'These children don't have a return-to-sender stamp emblazoned on their forehead.'

Messages left Thursday at the couple's home in Butler County were not immediately returned. Children Services also didn't return messages Thursday.

Adolf Olivas, an attorney appointed by the court to protect the child's legal interests, told the Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News that the parents said the boy has aggressive behaviors and would not agree to get help.

The child is hurt and confused and doesn't understand what is happening, Olivas said.

'If your 9-year-old needs help, you get him help,' Olivas told the newspaper.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/11/15/article-2507660-196C0B9B00000578-243_634x437.jpg

Not a money problem: The median annual income in the region where the parents live in Liberty Township is more than $100,000, and the median home value is more than $280,000, according to census data

'It is not a question of a 9-year-old wanting it or not.'

Olivas had no additional comment Thursday.

The Coxes could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted of the first-degree misdemeanor.
Quiet: Mrs Cox and her husband Cleveland have not spoken publicly about the charges

Quiet: Mrs Cox and her husband Cleveland have not spoken publicly about the charges

'This is not about somebody who can't pay to support the child,' the prosecutor said.

The median annual income in the region where the parents live is more than $100,000, and the median home value is more than $280,000, according to census data.

'These are the only parents he has ever known, Gmoser said.

'What do you think happens at night when he goes to sleep and doesn't have his brothers around or someone to talk to he has known for nine years?'

Gmoser confirmed the Coxes have other children.

Benjamin Johnson, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said such cases are rare.

A Tennessee woman who ended her adoption of a 7-year-old Russian boy by putting him on a plane to Moscow by himself in 2010 lost her bid this year to keep from paying $150,000 in child support.

Criminal charges were not filed against the woman, but the Seattle-based adoption agency sued her for support. She had pinned a note to the boy saying he had violent behavior problems and she no longer wanted to be his mother.

The sheriff's office did not immediately return calls on whether the warrant had been served.

[happyg]

That is pure cruelty. I imagine the boy was a lot of trouble, but he is their son, and there were other options available. Whatever the problems he had, these parents made it worse. We haven't heard their side, but there is no excuse to toss your child, adopted or not, off on a children's agency.

[mystery-ak]

We adopted our oldest son when he was 2 weeks old, he made us a family and is the father of our two grandsons...I can't imagine in my wildest dreams what this child could have done to make these parents abandon him

[happyg]

We adopted our oldest son when he was 2 weeks old, he made us a family and is the father of our two grandsons...I can't imagine in my wildest dreams what this child could have done to make these parents abandon him

I imagine they couldn't bond to him, and he sensed it. Maybe they adopted him, then had biological children, and put him on the back burner. I don't have any idea, since the story left a lot out.

[happyg]

"...The child’s guardian ad litem, Adolfo Olivas, said the “adorable” boy is very “hurt and confused and traumatized.” The parents said the boy has aggressive behaviors and will not agree to get help, according to Olivas.

“The parents were willing to get help but the child wasn’t. That just is nonsense to me,” Olivas said. “A parent is a parent and a 9-year-old is a 9-year-old. If your 9-year-old needs help, you get him help. It is not a question of a 9-year-old wanting it or not.”

While the boy is now receiving the care he needs, he doesn’t understand what has happened to him, according to Olivas.

Olivas said he considers this a form of child abuse that will also affect the boy’s siblings.

“What does this do to these other kids? You have these siblings and one goes away and doesn’t ever come back because of some behavior issues,” he said. “Anytime you separate siblings in the blink of an eye like that, it’s got to have some bad effect on them.”

The Coxes, who live in a $300,000-plus home in the Trails of Four Bridges subdivision, could not be reached for comment.

Warren County Juvenile Court Judge Joe Kirby said he has never heard of a situation such as this, but there are always two sides to every story.

“Sometimes you need to understand the whole situation. Every time I get a case there is always more to it…,” he said. “No matter what the circumstances are, there is always the other side of the story that just kind of turns things around.”

Gmoser said this case should not have an effect on the Safe Haven Act, which allows birth parents to give up their children — up to 30 days old — without criminal consequences, if they bring the baby to a medical worker at a hospital, fire department or to a peace officer.

The Coxes have a hearing in Butler County Juvenile Court on Nov. 27. No hearing has been set yet in the criminal case.

“The parents have sought to have their parental rights terminated,” Olivas said. “I’m not sure that terminating parental obligations and rights is the right thing to do here.”
http://www.journal-news.com/news/news/liberty-twp-parents-charged-with-abandonment/nbrYF/?ref=cbTopWidget

[Chieftain]

This is the tip of a vast iceberg, and the child is lucky that he was abandoned at an agency instead of given away on the internet.  There is a coast to coast network on almost every social media site where people can hook up anonymously to hand off an adopted child who has become a burden for whatever reason.  Many end up in the hands of pedophiles and pornographers, and the practice is more wide spread than most people realize and almost beyond the ability of any social services agency to get a handle on.  Yahoo in particular has shut down a number of chat rooms dedicated to this purpose.