The story of Hana has been haunting me for a while. If you live in the United States or belong to the adoption or the Ethiopian community, you probably have already heard about her.
Hana was a 13 years old Ethiopian girl that was adopted in 2008, along with her brother, by a white American couple in Washington State. The family is very religious, lives in the country, and already had 6 children at the time of Hana’s adoption.
On May 12th, 2011 a 911 call was made by her adoptive mother stating that Hana was dead outside of the family house. The audio of the call is disturbing, not only for the news, but for the fact that the mother accuses Hana of committing suicide putting the blame on the girl.
An investigation was carried out and the terrible truth of Hana’s life was discovered. The girl has been kept living inside a dark closet for hours and days, sometimes forced to sleep outside, starved, and beaten.
The cause of death was hypothermia, but malnutrition and a stomach infection were contributing factors.
This wouldn’t have happened if some security measures were in place.
The girl had been living in the family for almost three years. Why nobody noticed that something was wrong?
For starters it looks like no social worker made follow up visits after the adoption to check on the adjustment and welfare of the adopted children. Was she ever taken to see a doctor? I mean, at least for vaccinations or the regular yearly check ups.
Any doctor could have seen that something was wrong only by checking the weight loss.
School? Nope, she was homeschooled, so it was impossible for a teacher, or a schoolmate to see the situation.
Friends? Neighbors? Church? Sports? Any other activity outside the home where she could have been seen? Did anybody know she existed?
It looks like she was kept isolated from community and people outside the family circle. She was trapped.
That’s the problem. If nobody sees her, nobody cares.
Lets assume that she had “issues”. What would you do with a problem child? Isolate her, cut her from society? Or seek help?
All children are difficult, because we humans are difficult, but you don’t beat them to death for that. You speak with them, with their doctor, with their teachers, with their friends, you look for answers to help your child. You fight for your child, not against your child.
The mother says Hana “didn’t want to come inside the house” on a 40° F day. What would you do? Let her freeze to death outside or drag her inside? If they had the strength to beat her and locked her in a closet, they surely could grab her so she wouldn’t die of hypothermia.
Hana was a black teenager girl and she fought with all her might to free herself from her situation.
Hana suffered enormously before coming to America, only to end up with a family that didn’t care a bit about her, a family that tortured her until they killed her.
Links:
Charged mother of dead teen: ‘ I think my daughter killed herself’
The debate continues on ’spanking’ children in the name of God
AliciA
6 users commented in " Hana "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHana es el nombre de mi hija, nacida también en Etiopía. Mi vida es mejor desde que ella está conmigo. Y aunque me hubiera llevado a los infiernos, nada justificaría, mi opción de matarla. ¿Dónde estábamos los demás mientras esto pasaba?. Los padres ejecutan su muerte pero responsables somos todos, desde el que permitió que esa adopción fuera posible hasta el que no supervisó su evolución. Estas cosas nos golpean y torturan porque sabemos que somos todos parte del daño. No conocía la noticia y me hace daño
Sin palabras
Que terrible información, no tenia idea de esta noticia. No se ni que decir, es obvia la ineptitud del sistema que permitio de la adptaran estos monstruos, es obvio que a la comunidad donde vivian tampoco le importaba nada lo que sucediera con ella. Esto solo puede servir para abrirnos los ojos y procurar por el medio que sea que estas cosas no se repitan.
I am speechless…why oh why does this happen so so often in the US? I have a diatribe with the Court of Minors in Turin cause they didn’t allow me to adopt siblings even though we had a positive report from our psychologist and social worker, but then Turin is one of the most severe in Italy for adoptions.
One week after our arrival in Italy with Abe,the social worker came to see how my boy was settling in. Every year we have to send a report to Ethiopia with 8 photos, a medical certificate, a school certificate and a letter from his teachers declaring how my son is doing in school. How come this wasn’t in place in the US as I was led to believe it’s an Ethiopian government request. Why did the association / agency not follow up? We have a yearly meeting with our association’s psychologist whereby she evaluates my son.
I wish I could have helped Hana,another poor baby destroyed by violent animals. May she rest in peace,no consolation to the family she left behind in Ethiopia by going to a better world in the US. Makes me sick to my stomach, really…thanks for making us aware Alicia.
Well, many laws in the US tend to protect individuality and personal freedom so they don’t regulate your choices on how you care or educate your children.
After you adopt in the US, you have three mandatory visits from the social worker at 3, 6 and 12 months after the adoption and that’s all. After that you have to send an annual report with photos to Ethiopia but really nobody enforces that so pretty much falls into the parents hands to do it or not.
I don’t agree with homeschooling but you probably know that is a common practice in the US, specially among religious families. I think parents shouldn’t be allowed to homeschool adopted children for so many reasons that it could take a whole post to list them. Also, children under 18 years old should be required by law to see a doctor at least once a year, no matter if adopted or not.
Many children die every year in the US for lack of medical care due to religious beliefs or for being uninsured. But in a country where medical insurance is very expensive, those things are bound to happen…
The parents of Hana are surely monsters, but I still don’t understand why the rest of the family of that girl didn’t lift a finger to prevent her death. They should be charged as accomplices of her murder.
We parents, don’t “own” our children, biological or adopted, we are their guardians, we are supposed to protect them until we die
Join us on face book. Remembering Hanna Williams. We are going to fight until they get the punishment they deserve.
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