Adoption nightmare

A Muskogee family says it's caught in the middle of an adoption nightmare. They adopted three children through the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. They say that adoption was based on fraud,

Thursday, March 1st 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A Muskogee family says it's caught in the middle of an adoption nightmare. They adopted three children through the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. They say that adoption was based on fraud, since DHS didn't tell them critical information about the children's histories.

KOTV's Lori Fullbright explains the family believes that history would've forewarned them of the terror to come. A picture was taken the day the Larry and Christina Moore's adoption of two brothers and a sister was final. They say it was the happiest day of their lives. But, they had no idea what was to come, violence, abuse, threats and sexual misconduct.

Christina Moore, mother says, "had sexually started to come on to me, touching me, making comments to me and I don't know if you can say on TV what he was doing with my underwear." The list is long and scary. A police report shows one of the boys admitted delivering a bomb threat to a school. This is a letter written by one of the boys detailing how he'd like to kill black people. And, this is a statement from a little girl describing how one of the boys said and did vulgar things to her. The violence got so bad, the Moore's mounted cameras inside their home. "We found a letter two days before they went to the hospital saying he was going to burn us in our beds. And, he's the one who beat the dog so badly, the dog's eye wouldn't move anymore."

Then the violence turned on the Moore's granddaughter, Bailey Moore says the two younger children admitted they put dishwashing soap in Bailey's bottle, which made her sick. And, she says once, the girl started to kick the baby. "I got in between her and the kick and got my rib broke. It took three of us to contain her."

The Moores say their adoption was based on fraud, because DHS never told them the children's history of abuse, information they learned only from the children. "The children may, may have attachment disorder and their mother abandoned them, that's the sum total of what we were told by DHS." DHS couldn't talk to us about this specific case, but sent us a copy of its policy, which says, it will provide all medical and social background information to the adoptive parents. However, letters from the Moore's attorney to DHS repeatedly request that information and so far, have been ignored.

The Moore's say they've repeatedly asked for help and are at their wits' end. Two of the children are now in a hospital and the oldest boy is in a shelter, by a judge's order. The Moore's say they have two options, pay thousands a month to keep the kids in treatment facilities, which they can't afford or bring the children home, which they say is too dangerous.

If they refuse to take the children home, they could be charged with felony child abandonment. KOTV will keep you updated on this story.