By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist
According to their attorney, Doug and Valerie Herrman "really rue the fact" that they neglected to report their adoptive son missing when he supposedly disappeared 10 years ago at the tender age of 11 or 12.
Right.
The bizarre story breaking in southern Kansas has all the earmarks of another horrible story about a child who falls through the cracks. Did no one -- a neighbor, someone from the school system, anybody -- notice that Adam Herrman was missing?
How did the Herrman's end up with Adam in the first place? And did they collect adoption subsidies after he disappeared?
No matter what the answers to these questions, stories like these rarely end well. Adam's disappearance is now national news. The Wichita Eagle has more details, including how to contact the sheriff's agency investigating the case.
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Replying to Reason...
I didn't intend in my original post to suggest that I was more worried about the parents possibly cheating the state than the child's wellbeing. I'm afraid I made a mental leap that investigators are going to find that Adam was killed a decade ago. I hope it's not so, but that's been the case with other child disappearances. I'm thinking in particular of a little girl named Angel Hart, who was murdered in Kansas City by her mother's boyfriend and then dumped somewhere in Arizona.
The interview with the boy's
The interview with the boy's adoptive brother who left the house when he was 17 and Adam was 10 said that he was abused horribly. His parents told him he went back to the state at one point, then said he was in a mental hospital later- but never claimed he was missing. Sounds like to me, from that interview with that brother that the parents probably either beat the child until he ran away, or most gravely- killed him.
The interview is on the website of KWCH.com.
=(
"2009-Whomp,there it is"
Reason, I think the slant of
Reason, I think the slant of that particular question she asked implied that the parents fall into a category of "dishonest and neglectful" so why were they even allowed to care for him?
In other words, the fact he is missing is a sad result of a system that fell short of screening prospective caregivers.
If they did collect funds in his absense, and also failed to report him missing, that in itself is criminal.
They had no business being caregivers to children.
I hope he is found safe.
"2009-Whomp,there it is."
What! Did they think he was
What! Did they think he was in the bathroom?
Just amazing
You are terribly worried about everything EXCEPT is the boy alive, and where is he? As much as I dislike government waste, why are you more worried about whether or not these people were collecting a subsidy rather than where the child is?