UPDATE Ohio Couple Returns Adopted Son After Nearly 10 Years

DiamondSmiles · #1 ● 11-15-2013, 04:47 PM

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

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER and ASSOCIATED PRESS

15 November 2013

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 behaved aggressively 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.

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.

'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.

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.

Photos

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

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

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

Megamel29 · #2 ● 11-15-2013, 09:17 PM

How is this different from having a biological child act out in potentially violent ways? Do you abandon that child or do you get them help, no matter what? This is a child. Not a dog that refuses to be housebroken.

DiamondSmiles · #3 ● 11-15-2013, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by Megamel29 ↗

How is this different from having a biological child act out in potentially violent ways? Do you abandon that child or do you get them help, no matter what? This is a child. Not a dog that refuses to be housebroken.

It's not any different.

There is something strange here, me thinks, Meg.

The couple have a lot of money so they didn't adopt for money.

Our local news reported they couldn't find the couple.

Megamel29 · #4 ● 11-15-2013, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by diamondsmiles ↗

It's not any different.

There is something strange here, me thinks, Meg.

The couple have a lot of money so they didn't adopt for money.

Our local news reported they couldn't find the couple.

I think they're hiding so they can't be served by the police. The police want to charge them with abandonment. If nothing else, they should be barred from any adoptions in the future.

Megamel29 · #5 ● 11-15-2013, 10:40 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-parents-t...031738965.html

Ohio parents turn selves in on abandonment charges

CINCINNATI (AP) — Authorities say a suburban Cincinnati couple accused this week of giving their 9-year-old adopted son to child welfare officials have turned themselves in.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones says 49-year-old Cleveland Cox and his 52-year-old wife, Lisa, reported to the county jail Friday night on charges of nonsupport of dependents. They have been released on $10,000 bond each and are due in court Nov. 27.

Prosecutors say the couple raised the child from infancy. Butler County authorities say the parents left him with the agency last month after saying he was displaying aggressive behavior. A sheriff's report in August says Lisa Cox said the boy had threatened the rest of the household with a knife. The couple has two other children.

The Coxes haven't returned telephone calls to their home.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

An Ohio prosecutor said Friday he will pursue abandonment charges in cases similar to his latest in which authorities say a couple gave their 9-year-old adopted son to child welfare officials after raising him from infancy.

Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said similar cases have been handled in the past within the children services agencies and domestic courts. And while that's appropriate, he said, criminal charges should also be considered.

"There has never been a focus on the criminality of merely abandoning a child," he said in an interview. "That stops immediately. There is a legal consequence."

The Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News reported Friday that sheriff's deputies believe the suburban Cincinnati couple indicted this week on charges of nonsupport of dependents have left their home with their two other children. Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer said deputies had tried unsuccessfully to serve Cleveland Cox, 49, and wife Lisa, 52, with arrest warrants.

No other details on the family were immediately available, and the Coxes didn't return telephone calls to their home.

Butler County authorities say the parents left the boy with the children services agency Oct. 24, after saying he was displaying aggressive behavior. A sheriff's report in August said the adoptive mother said the boy had threatened the rest of the household with a knife.

Attorney Adolfo Olivas, appointed by the court to protect the child's interests, has said that the boy is hurt and confused and that he is now receiving help that the parents should have gotten for him.

A national adoption advocacy leader said adoptive parents not only have strong parental rights, they have binding legal obligations.

"I think that's something the great majority of adoptive parents recognize," said Chuck Johnson, an adoptive father and president of the National Council for Adoption. "That's what we want."

Comprehensive national statistics aren't available on failed adoptions, or dissolutions, but Johnson said they are "extremely rare" in cases in which the child has been raised from infancy. While still rare, they are more likely to occur in cases in which older children have been adopted, he said.

He said the majority of an estimated 400,000-plus children in foster care across the United States had biological parents unwilling or unable to care for them and "occasionally, that happens with adoptive parents, too."

Some adoption advocates are concerned that the prospects of criminal charges and negative publicity could hurt efforts to find good parents for children in need.

"Everybody tries, but sometimes it doesn't work out," said lawyer Susan Garner Eisenman of Columbus, who focuses on adoption and child welfare issues. "(Prosecutions) could have a chilling impact on adoption. And that's the concern."

There is a growing push among advocates for more post-adoptive services and support, especially for parents willing to take on special needs children.

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services spokesman Benjamin Johnson said that of some 12,000 Ohio foster children, nearly 400 are in county care or custody after having been adopted. But many reasons other than abandonment can explain why a child is no longer with an adoptive family, he said. Those include sexual assault or the parents' deaths.

Johnson said that since the department isn't a law enforcement agency, it would be inappropriate to comment on prosecuting adoptive parents for abandonment.

He said all parents, adoptive or biological, should try to get help with child-raising problems.

"We urge any parent struggling to raise children to seek public or private assistance or counseling as appropriate," he said.

DiamondSmiles · #6 ● 11-16-2013, 12:00 AM

Thanks, Meg

Megamel29 · #7 ● 11-16-2013, 12:06 AM

No problem. I happened to see the headline while I was reading something else.

dcaccount22 · #8 ● 11-16-2013, 04:10 AM

If thats true, its not normal for a 9 year old to threaten people with a knife. I would be terrified to have him in my home.

Pigeon · #9 ● 11-16-2013, 04:19 AM

"I didn't keep the receipt; can I do an exchange?"

Megamel29 · #10 ● 11-16-2013, 04:44 AM

Originally Posted by dcaccount22 ↗

If thats true, its not normal for a 9 year old to threaten people with a knife. I would be terrified to have him in my home.

No, it's not normal. The kid needs help. But if this was their biological child, would they just walk away?

*UPDATE* Ohio Couple Returns Adopted Son After Nearly 10 Years

Documenting Reality

UPDATE Ohio Couple Returns Adopted Son After Nearly 10 Years