The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "child adoption" ...
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Failure to Protect
The two-day series “A Failure to Protect” examined what went wrong in the case of a Central Minnesota family that grew to 26 through a mix of biological, adopted and foster children, but eventually was torn apart by sexual abuse charges. Reporters David Unze and Kirsti Marohn uncovered how Minnesota’s child protection system allows either counties or nonprofits to license foster homes with little oversight.
Tags: Adoption; foster home; sexual abuse
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To Adopt A Child
The story looks at the murky world of international adoption. The United States has long been one of the biggest participants in overseas adoptions. But over the last few years, as cases of fraud and corruption have surfaced around the world, the U.S. has clamped down on questionable adoptions. Since 2004, the annual number of visas the U.S. issues for international adoption has dropped by 50 percent.
Tags: adoption; international; nepal; united states; corruption; fraud
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Ethiopian Adoption Scans
The number of adoptions of orphans from Ethiopia to the US more than tripled from 2006 to 2009. CBS found that at least one US adoption agency in Ethiopia was involved in fraud and child trafficking while agency managers in the US were looking the other way.
Tags: adoption; Ethiopia; child trafficking;
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To Hug a Porcupine
Debbie and Jorge Garcia-Bengoches did not understand why the three little boys they'd adopted were acting so violent. Only years later and by accident did the couple discover that the boys had been horribly abused by a series of adults in early childhood, a fact that the state's foster care system knew but filed to disclose. The technical name for the boys' behavioral ailment is "Reactive Attachment Disorder" but they have been described as sociopaths. The parents successfully sued the state for $10 million but cannot get the money released due to budget cuts and the concept of sovereign immunity.
Tags: reactive attachment disorder; adoption; foster care; budget cuts; mental health; child abuse
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Sexually Violent Predators
The Sacramento Bee investigates as a decade after the state of California adopted the nation's toughest laws regarding sexually violent predators, enforcement has fallen short of expectations. Those deemed to have the highest risk of being repeat offenders "were sent to Atascadero State Mental Hospital following their prison terms." But of 54 molesters released from the mental hospital, "none had gone through the full treatment regimen designed for them" and worse, "more than two-thirds underwent no treatment at all." In addition, "those who refused treatment had been released to society with fewer restrictions and less monitoring than the four who had completed the five-stage program."
Tags: Atascadero State Mental Hospital; California sex-offender laws; sexual predators; child molesters
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Preying on Parents
A California-based international adoption firm is found to be defrauding prospective parents, taking advantage of "legal loopholes and government neglect." The story involves bribes and kickbacks to foreign government officials, the use of internet fraud on prospective parents, and "the withholding of vital medical information about orphans to misstate their health." In some cases, the children adopted through the agency had such severe medical conditions or other issues, and were institutionalized or sent home to their native countries. Meanwhile, "the company ignored complaints and pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees."
Tags: Adoption; former Soviet Union; child adoption; fraud; Internet adoption agency; orphans; medical problems
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Adoption deal questioned
The Star investigated the adoption of twins by Stephen F. Mellinger, a single New Jersey schoolteacher, who, through the Indiana-based Surrogate Mothers Inc., hired a woman in South Carolina to bear a child for him. Following the twins' premature birth in an Indianapolis hospital, it became clear that Mellinger was unequipped to care for them properly. The newspaper found information on Mellinger unknown to child-welfare officials, who were either unwilling or unable to travel out of state, persuaded a judge to reopen the case file, helped state officials find eight other interstate adoptions similar to this case and brought to light the need for greater oversight in surrogacy and adoption.
Tags: child welfare; interstate adoptions; Surrogate Mothers Inc.; surrogacy; CAR; Stephen Mellinger
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Failure to protect
This series reveals cases of neglect and abuse in state-sanctioned foster homes and that Indiana has crossed the federally allowable limit for such cases. Exposing dangerous conditions to which the children were subject, the series highlights particular instances of malnourishment and sexual assualt that have proved fatal. Finally, the stories raises questions about confidentiality rules adopted by these foster homes.
Tags: child protection; Child Protective Services; foster parents; Family and Social Services Administration
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"A crisis in foster care: Hardships prevalent for those raising children's children
This investigation found that nearly a third more New York grandparents are raising their grandchildren than a decade ago, and of those, a disproportionate number have fallen into poverty. An unresponsive child-welfare system has forced these grandparents into making a tough decision: Place their grandchildren into foster care and become foster parents themselves in order to receive government aid, or ignore the foster care system and scrounge to support their families.
Tags: grandparents; grandchildren; foster care; poverty; census; child welfare; adoption; Children and Family Services; Department of Social Services; Department of Health and Human Services; guardianship; CAR; computer-assisted reporting
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Foster Care
These stories are the result of a several year long investigation which found that as many as half of Los Angeles County's foster children were needlessly placed into the system. Furthermore, the system is sometime more dangerous than their original home. These placements are encouraged by financial incentives in state and federal laws, which allow counties to receive up to $150,000 for placing and keeping a child in foster care. Children in LA County's foster care systems are six to seven times for likely to be mistreated and three times more likely to be killed than children outside of the system.
Tags: FOIA; Department of Children and Family Services; DCFS; adoption; social workers; family