Pastor Convicted of Repeatedly Raping Adopted Daughter Gets Light Sentence Because of “Longtime Ministry”

David Richards, a former Pastor and former case worker with Smoky Mountain Children's Home in Sevierville, Tennessee, was convicted by a Knox County jury of seven women and five men in February this year (2019) on nine felony counts, including rape, incest and sexual battery by an authority figure regarding his then 14-year-old adopted daughter, Amber Richards. Prosecutors wanted the maximum sentence of 72 years behind bars, but the judge, Knox County Judge Steven Sword, gave him a much lighter sentence, due to his Christian ministry and supporters from his church who showed up at the sentencing. Victims of sexual abuse are seldom identified in court, but after a jury handed down the conviction of David Richards in February, his adopted daughter Amber decided to go public and make a statement. She was in court during the sentencing, sitting with her biological parents and a half dozen other supporters. "I wanted to throw my body away," Amber Richards said as she delivered her victim impact statement Thursday. "Not a day goes by that I don't, in some way, think of what he did to me. ... I firmly believe if given the opportunity, he would victimize another young girl."

Former Foster Child Now a Mother Speaks Out Against Evil Foster Care and Adoption System

The following comment was submitted to Health Impact News in response to our article, The Corrupt Foster Care and Adoption System: Why Aren’t More Foster and Adoptive Parents Speaking Out? "I tell you why adoptive families don’t speak up. They are usually infertile couples who are desperate to get their hot little hands on a child. They often spend years on waiting lists, jumping through the hoops of applications, home studies, background checks, parenting classes and trial periods with foster children to 'find a good fit.' They don’t care whether the child was 'justifiably' taken from its real parents or not. We FINALLY got a child, by God it’s ours, and we won’t let anyone take it away! Open adoptions, birthparent contact and the child’s desire to search are their worst nightmare. Adoption can be as bad or worse than an abusive home - like the most horrific of all, when the child was unjustly taken from loving parents and given to abusive adopters (which is what happened to me)."

Arizona Judge: Child Removed from Home Illegally – Only Reason Was Child Was “Adoptable”

One of the dirty little secrets of Child Protective Services is that children are sometimes taken from their homes, and their parents' rights ended, simply because the children are "adoptable." Now, in a stunning reversal of a termination of parental rights decision, a Court of Appeals has concluded that the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) took children from their mother primarily because her children were considered adoptable. This admission is now part of the court record. This confirms what many parents and social worker insiders have told Health Impact News - that one of the reasons that children are taken even from good, loving homes is because of their adoptability, not just in Arizona, but in every state. There is a great deal of federal funding in adopting out children to strangers; thus, children have literally become a commodity to be seized and sold. In any other context, this would be considered human trafficking. In the context of Child Protective Services, it is considered "in the best interest of the child."

Child Kidnapping and Trafficking: A Lucrative U.S. Business Funded by Taxpayers Called “Foster Care”

Child Protective Service (CPS) is big business - to the tune of billions of dollars. Many allege that federal funding is the root of the problem with CPS, and that the real incentive is perpetuating a lucrative business employing tens of thousands of people, and not protecting children. Whenever there is evil or corruption, often all one has to do is “follow the money.” The Bible says it best: "For the love of money is the root of all evil." The late Congresswoman Nancy Schaefer wrote: "I have witnessed such injustice and harm brought to these families that I am not sure if I even believe reform of the system is possible! The system cannot be trusted. It does not serve the people. It obliterates families and children simply because it has the power to do so. Children deserve better. Families deserve better. It’s time to pull back the curtain and set our children and families free." Many assert that CPS has become a business based on moving children from one home (the birth home) and into another (state custody foster care, group home, or adoptive home) in order to turn on the tap to get the federal funds flowing, and is not a system concerned with protecting children from abuse. Brian Shilhavy, editor of Health Impact News, refers to this as state-sponsored "child trafficking."

Whistleblowers Reveal CPS Child Kidnappings in Kentucky Adoption Business

Investigative reporter John Boel has exposed much of the corruption taking place in the "child protection" system in Kentucky. His reports were broadcast in the local media, and include some amazing interviews with former CPS whistleblowers, documenting the depth of the alleged corruption within Kentucky CPS. In a report aired originally on WLKY Target 32 News, news anchors begin the story by explaining that the station had to go to court just to get permission to air their investigative report, because the State of Kentucky attempted to censor their report from the public. Reporter John Boel states that they were "being swamped with complaints" against CPS in Kentucky. He explains that his report gives an "in-depth look" into Kentucky CPS which exemplifies what they were hearing from so many other families who were coming to them. Boel reports that children are often removed quickly with no evidence of parental wrong-doing, and that the State retaliates against those who try to fight back.

Medical Kidnapping: Billion Dollar Adoption Business

Child ‘protection’ is one of the biggest businesses in the country. We spend $12 billion a year on it. A reasonable taxpayer would assume that children are going from a bad environment to a good environment, a sick environment to a healing environment. We would assume they are going to a new environment totally void of any more suffering or trauma, safe from abuse or neglect of any kind, right? Wrong! Some of these children have suffered more trauma by being taken by CPS than they ever suffered in their own homes. Being taken from your own home and placed in another home with strangers while often not having any clue why, is extremely traumatizing. The impact is just like an illegal kidnapping; but in these cases the kidnapping is totally legal. In this report, Child and Family Advocate Steve Isham uncovers the multi-billion dollar adoption industry, and shows how one state, Arizona, seems to be utilizing a "Children for Cash" program to help balance their state budget.