Here we go AGAIN!

[Heather in Neverland]

Yet another missing child/possible murder of a child from a "homeschooling" family...sigh.... Everyone get out your "conclusion" mat and start jumping as I am sure homeschoolers will be vilified yet again over this one.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/missing_boy_search

[Melinda in VT]

I realize I may not be seeing this through eyes sufficiently sensitive, but to me, the inclusion that the boy was homeschooled is important.

 

If the reporter hadn't included it, readers would have automatically wondered why the school didn't report the boy missing. In other words, I don't think that detail is irrelevant, nor do I think the reporter was trying to vilify homeschoolers.

[angela in ohio]

I don't think Heather was questioning the inclusion (I could be wrong.) She didn't say that in her post, at least. She posted about how this will likely be spun against homeschoolers (history proves that stories like this generally lead to calls for more regulations.)

[Pamela H in Texas]

Melinda,

 

Good point. The way they threw it in the story looked random but I do think it answers the question, at least partially, about other people in the lives of the child. Of course, one would wonder about other family members, neighbors, etc also, but at least that answered why the school didn't do anything.

[Heather in Neverland]

I don't think Heather was questioning the inclusion (I could be wrong.) She didn't say that in her post, at least. She posted about how this will likely be spun against homeschoolers (history proves that stories like this generally lead to calls for more regulations.)

 

Yes, this is exactly what I meant.

[Tree House Academy]

What a totally weird case in general. Wow. 10 years huh? Apparently they weren't in a hurry to get him back. :(

[Renee in NC]

Melinda,

 

Good point. The way they threw it in the story looked random but I do think it answers the question, at least partially, about other people in the lives of the child. Of course, one would wonder about other family members, neighbors, etc also, but at least that answered why the school didn't do anything.

 

I read about this last night and the first thought that popped into my head was why the school didn't report him missing.

[Highereducation]

What a totally weird case in general. Wow. 10 years huh? Apparently they weren't in a hurry to get him back. :(

 

 

I guess that beats the 31 days that Casey Anthony waited to report little Caylee "missing," huh?

 

I don't get people, I really don't.:confused:

[swellmomma]

10 years! How is it no one not even friends and family even bothered to question where he was. Even if there was no school to report him missing, how is it he just vanished for 10 years and not a single person cared enough to report it.

[unsinkable]

Are you bleeping kidding !!!!????!!!!

 

That poor boy. That poor, poor child.

 

I hope he is safe somewhere, in this world or the next.

 

I hate these parents. I do. And yeah, it's probably not a proportionate response. I know that. They fostered that boy, they couldn't handle him and now he is probably dead.

 

WHAT THE &*^%$&^$%*()) ???

[unsinkable]

Why are they even doing this? How are they going to find evidence of a decade old murder? If he just ran away then he is an adult now and what's the point? Who even reported it at this point? Obviously if he ran away his parents gave up on him coming back long ago. Who finally thought to themselves "gee, he's been gone 10 years maybe we should tell someone?". There has to be more to this.

 

He is PERSON. A CHILD. Ten years ago, he was probably neglected to the point of death.

 

 

The more to it is probably the guilt of a friend or relative or neighbor who probably could not live with not telling any more

[unsinkable]

I found this after my post to Cadam.

 

http://www.kansas.com/news/story/652772.html

 

He was abused. He deserves justice.

[Plucky]

I wonder if someone did tip the police? It seems like if a family is very unsocial and has no friends and cuts off family they could then move somewhere else and no one would be the wiser - especially if they homeschooled. I wonder if it started with the IRS or Selective Service. It is sad but the boy could be alive.

[Plucky]

Oh, dear that puts a different spin on things. Why can't people come forward sooner? It really irritates me that people report these things how many stinking years later???

[Heather in Neverland]

I found this after my post to Cadam.

 

http://www.kansas.com/news/story/652772.html

 

He was abused. He deserves justice.

 

Wow. There are so many things wrong with this case. The mom obviously has issues and I hope they are able to solve it soon. Why do these awful people end up being homeschoolers? We could do without the negative attention.

[angela in ohio]

Oh, dear that puts a different spin on things. Why can't people come forward sooner? It really irritates me that people report these things how many stinking years later???

 

This article says he "may have been homeschooled." It also includes a school 4th grade picture. It kind of sounds like another case of someone being labeled a homeschooler when in fact it is a truancy/neglect situation.

[Quiver0f10]

I don't understand how all these poeple NOW say he was abused. Yes, one person ( other than the son) reported it back then, but why not stay with it until something was done? Keep calling or whatever. Makes me ill.

[unsinkable]

I am sorry I didn't phrase it well. I was thinking more along the lines of why this crazy world didn't do something when they could have made a difference in an abused child's life. I truly hope he ran away and found someone to care for him but I find it nauseating that nothing was done all those years ago when he could have been saved. Now they will either find a body (or not) or a grown man who managed to grow up one way or another. A child continuing to run away time and time again should have started a reaction that saved him. Instead we get too little too late and what meaningful thing can come out of it. If his parents killed him and they actually ever find enough proof to convict that won't bring the child back and apparently justice isn't something the authorities/friends/family worried about for the past 10 years so why do they care now? If he managed to survive he would probably like to be left alone.

:grouphug:

 

I'm sorry.

 

I was all-caps yelling at the universe, not you. I knew you didn't mean: "ah don't bother, it was 10 years ago."

[jonesloonybin]

Am I the only one wondering this...if he was a foster child...where was the social worker in all this???

 

I feel so bad for that poor child...that a child could be gone for 10 years and NOBODY reported or checked to see what was going on??

[Ferdie]

Am I the only one wondering this...if he was a foster child...where was the social worker in all this???

 

I feel so bad for that poor child...that a child could be gone for 10 years and NOBODY reported or checked to see what was going on??

 

The article said he was an adopted foster child. Once you adopt them social services is out of the picture. I have 3 adopted foster child and we never received any calls of follow up after the adoptions were final.

[unsinkable]

Another article.

 

http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/963783.html

 

Long-missing boy is subject of search

By TIM POTTER

The Wichita Eagle

Breaking News

| His name is Adam.

 

He came to his foster parents when he was about 2, according to a relative, and a few years later that family adopted him.

 

And then, nearly 10 years ago, the boy disappeared when he was 11 or 12, while the adoptive family lived at a mobile home park in Towanda, Kan.

 

After receiving a tip, Butler County authorities searched part of the mobile home park last week.

 

Sheriff Craig Murphy has not confirmed the boy’s name but said no one ever reported him missing and investigators could find no evidence that the boy is alive.

 

A news conference is scheduled for Monday morning.

 

On Saturday, an attorney for Adam’s adoptive parents said that he ran away about nine years ago, that they didn’t report it and that they feel “horribly guilty†for not doing so.

 

“And they’ve been feeling that guilt for nine years,†Wichita attorney Warner Eisenbise said.

 

Eisenbise said Adam had psychological problems, was difficult to control and had run away repeatedly.

 

“They assumed that he was somewhere — either a homeless person or back with members of his family,†Eisenbise said. “They assumed that he was OK.â€

 

Also Saturday, the boy’s biological parents and sister said detectives had asked them for DNA samples, to be compared with any evidence investigators find of him.

 

Adam was named Irvin Groeninger III when he was born in Wichita in June 1987.

 

His biological parents, who have since divorced, said they wish he had not been removed from their custody.

 

“I feel like he wouldn’t be missing if he would have been in my custody,†said Irvin Groeninger II, who now lives in Indiana.

 

Adam’s biological mother, Gerri George, said her son went into state custody at about age 2.

 

“I had been a little bit not exactly a good parent,†she said, adding she had left a bruise on an older child.

 

Still, she said, she did her best to give her children a good home. She last saw her son when he was about 4.

 

Adam’s older biological sister, Tiffany Broadfoot, now 22 and living in Wichita, lived for a time with Adam’s adoptive family before being adopted by someone else.

 

Broadfoot remembers Adam having dark, almost curly hair and “this cute, really round face.†She last saw him at a birthday party when he was 5 or 6.

 

Over the years, she said, she called the adoptive mother to ask how he was doing.

 

At first, Broadfoot said, the adoptive mother said Adam was OK. But about three years ago, she said, the woman asked her not to call again because she didn’t want Adam and two younger siblings to know they were adopted.

 

Broadfoot tried again, without success, to contact Adam last year, she said.

 

Then last month, she said, her biological father called and said, “Are you sitting down? Because I need to talk to you.â€

 

He said a detective told him that Adam had been missing since 1999.

 

“He (the detective) said he’s been missing nine years, and that just blew my mind,†Groeninger said.

 

A 2002 bankruptcy petition filed by Adam’s adoptive parents lists him as a son, age 14 — two to three years after authorities say he disappeared.

 

Court records show that as late as 2003, his adoptive parents listed him in their divorce case.

[Blessedfamily]

This happened in Richmond a few years ago with a child who was still in foster care. The child had been gone a few years and the foster "parents" were still collecting checks.

 

I believe they're in the VA state PEN now for fraud, but who knows where the child is...

[linders]

With a request for an open mind, even possible compassion towards the adoptive parents.

 

I had a sister who began running away at 10, and by 14 the police listed her as a "chronic runaway," which meant no active response to missing person calls about her. There's a lot more to this story, but it was heartbreaking for my parents.

 

From the news reports, there may be issues between bio and adoptive families, and there may have been a history of running that reached a breaking point. And believe me, 11 is not necessarily too young to cause that point to be reached. There may be more to this story than a "simple" abused-child-goes-missing tale.

Edited January 6, 2009 by linders

[astrid]

Hmmm....I am thinking the same thing. In the second article, there's no mention of homsechooling, and in fact the photo is from a 4th grade class picture. So at some point, he was enrolled in school.

 

So sad.

 

astrid

[Mommy22alyns]

I found this after my post to Cadam.

 

http://www.kansas.com/news/story/652772.html

 

He was abused. He deserves justice.

 

 

Oh my... I had to stop reading that partway through. :sad:

 

But why on earth has this taken so long? 9, 10 years?

[unsinkable]

That boy may have been like my little sister....

 

She was adopted by my parents as an infant - the adoption is relevant only because it later was learned the birth mother was an alcoholic, and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome may explain my sis. From an early age she was difficult - a compusive liar, thief, destructive, but cute as a button and able to squirm out of too much trouble. She often left the school grounds, and calls from school were an almost daily thing. By the age of 11, she had run away several times, usually ending up at the home of one of her friends who were already, at that tender age, into drugs. Each time, my parents called the police and spent hours, days calling friends, driving around town, etc. My parents did their best. It didn't help. Yes, she had counseling. It didn't help.

 

By 13, the police and court decided that short of chains she wouldn't stay at home and put her into a foster home. From which she ran away. At 14, the police listed her as a "chronic runaway," which meant no active response to missing person calls about her.

 

It was heartbreaking for my parents, and the other 3 of us kids had parents who were extremely unavailable because of her.

 

All this to say, there may be a lot more to this story.

 

If you read this, thanks.

 

P.S. She ended up with 4 children by 4 different guys at the age of 22, all of which were removed from her custody after multiple drug and abuse incidents. We've had no knowledge of her whereabouts for about 15 years now, although she knows where we are if she wanted to contact us. My mom still looks at the death notices daily, wondering.

 

Linders,

 

I am so saddened by your story. It is as heartbreaking as the story of this little boy. :grouphug:

 

I am sure there is a lot more to the story. But I would also bet your parents didn't beat your sister, handcuff her to a tub and lie about her whereabouts.

 

I really am sorry. I have a dear friend who is fostering 3 children whose mom used various drugs & drank all through her pregnancies.