Republican Arkansas State Representative Claimed His Kids Were "Possessed", Gave Them To a Child Molester

[VectorVictor]

Article on Gawker

 

Article on Arkansas Times

 

The issue is that Arkansas State Representative Justin Harris (R-West Fork) has three biological sons, and they were looking to adopt to help kids out. Sounds good on the surface...but the two girls, aged 4 and 2 in 2012 "suffered from reactive attachment disorder, a condition sometimes occurring among children with unstable backgrounds that results in severe emotional and social problems." (ArkTimes)

 

Harris is throwing all of the blame at Arkansas' Department of Human Services (DHS) and that he and his family were 'misled' about the girls condition. DHS is calling bulls**t on his claims (quotes via ArkTimes):

 

 

Nearly a dozen people interviewed by the Times tell a different story of Justin and Marsha Harris' dealings with DHS and their relationship with the three young girls. Among them: two foster families who cared for the girls prior to the Harris adoption, the girls' biological mother, a former DHS employee familiar with the proceedings and a former babysitter at the Harrises' West Fork home.

 

Cheryl and Craig Hart, an experienced foster couple who housed Mary and Annie for a year and a half before their adoption by the Harrises, said they tried to talk the Harrises out of adopting the sisters. The Harts said that a local team working on the adoption — including themselves, DHS caseworkers, adoption specialists, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) and therapists from Ozark Guidance, a mental health provider — made the Harrises fully aware of the girls' history of neglect and sexual abuse and cautioned them that they were unprepared to handle children from such a background, especially considering their home included young boys. The former DHS employee confirmed this account.

 

But of course, they pressed on and pulled strings/used connections to get the kids, despite numerous objections. But when things went sour, instead of taking blame themselves and doing the right thing, they instead turned to Jesus* for their answers:

 

Chelsey Goldsborough, who regularly babysat for the Harrises, said Mary was kept isolated from Annie and from the rest of the family...The reason: The Harrises believed the girls were possessed by demons and could communicate telepathically, Goldsborough said. Harris and his wife once hired specialists to perform an "exorcism" on the two sisters while she waited outside the house with the boys, she said.

Multiple sources who interacted with the family confirmed Goldsborough's account that the Harrises believed the children were possessed, and another source close to the family said that Marsha Harris spoke openly about the supposed demonic possession.

According to Goldsborough, the two girls were kept in separate rooms that were outfitted with locks, alarms and video cameras. They were not allowed to be around each other because of the Harrises' belief in demonic possession and telepathy, she said.

 

Of course, these good Southern Christians believe you can "pray the gay away", so a little bout of demonic possession and telepathy should be a walk in the park, right? No...problems persisted, and the Harrises, who also owned a daycare, decided to give the girls away to a worker from their daycare:

 

 

The Harrises sent Mary and Annie to live with the Francises in October 2013, just a year after they had taken them into custody. The girls remained with the Francises until February or March of 2014 — a month or two after Francis stopped working at the Harrises' daycare.

 

Okay...so why did the Francises leave the employ of their daycare? Well, initially the Harrieses said it was so the husband could go to seminary school. But after allegations of the rape of the two girls the Harrises put in the Francises' care came out...the story changed:

 

 

When news of the rape came out in April 2014 and Harris was questioned about his former employee, he told the Times he'd fired Francis for a poor work record. The lawmaker did not reveal at the time the child Francis raped was Harris' own.

 

And here's the rub with all of this--the Harrises' rehoming of the girls can't be discussed by DHS, the agency that the Harrises are claiming failed them--most of the people that went on record had to do so anonymously and/or were former employees. But the evidence is overwhelming that the Harrises were rather fanatical in their beliefs, and these girls suffered because those beliefs were upheld over existing, proven, documented science and therapy guidelines on how to properly help these girls out.

 

So, of course, people are crucifying the Harrises for their missteps, throwing DHS under the bus for their own failures, and their whackadoodle beliefs, right?

 

 

While Harris slings barbs at DHS, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has ordered a review of the agency's practices regarding adoption.

 

So, if you have a Picard facepalm pic, this is the place where you would use it.

 

 

Thankfully, and most importantly, the girls have been adopted by another family, and are doing quite well. In fact, so damn well, that their current family felt the need to speak up and call bulls**t on the Harrises' story:

 

 

"We are aware of the very public conversation going on about events pertaining to our daughters," they said in an email to the Times. "We are deeply grieved over Justin Harris' accusations toward our daughters in order to self-protect; it is inexcusable. Like the Harts, we also have two small dogs and the girls have only been gentle towards them. These girls are happy, healthy children who have gone through things no child should ever have to endure. Since they have been home with us, they have adjusted beautifully and are thriving in our home with unconditional love and patience. We are truly amazed at our daughters' ability to love and bond with us, given all they have experienced. They are both extremely protective toward each other and love each other with all their hearts.

 

I guess the takeaways/questions I see are:

 

If lay Christianity is truly more rational and compassionate than what the Harrises displayed, then why the hell are they not standing up and denouncing their bats**t crazy, insane beliefs of demonic possession and exorcisms? If they're not speaking out against their abuse and beliefs, aren't they supporting them with their silence?

 

 

[maskershake]

Is this an X-file? My goodness, I can't believe it's 2015 and this still goes on.

[darkhorse85]

God damn.

 

[VectorVictor]

Yeah, it's pretty f***** up. And at least the girls are in what sounds to be a loving home.

 

But where's the Christian outrage over this? It sounds as though they're sticking to political lines and trying to make a scapegoat out of an agency that can't publicly defend itself (DHS) due to confidentiality and because minors are involved.

 

This is an example of why I say I used to consider myself Christian...but having spent time in the South, I don't think I want anything to do with their kind any longer.

[strigori]

Disgusting, reprehensible, and yet somehow not surprising at all.

[VectorVictor]

Oh, and just FYI, the Arkansas GOP is closing ranks and supporting Harris.

 

Courtesy of the Daily Beast

 

Here's one of his buddies, David Meeks, saying (in so many words) that this is just ginned up and that Harris is being railroaded by a 'tabloid':

 

 

I know this might anger some people, but I don't throw someone I consider a friend under the bus. Yes, I am speaking of Rep Harris. He is someone I have gotten to know and has built up credibility with me. The tabloid that is doing most of the reporting on this has no credibility with me whatsoever. The experience that I have had with this tabloid is that they are out to destroy Conservatives, Christians and are willing to spin, lie, or make up stuff to do it.

Could any of the reporting by this tabloid be true? Of course. Is any of what Rep Harris saying the truth? Most definitely.

 

The Governor of the state is reiterating the stance that DHS needs to be investigated, top down, because of this.

 

Also, per the Daily Beast article:

 

 

Other high-ranking Republicans, who don’t want to be identified publicly, blame the Department of Human Services for failing Harris and his wife. Harris has said he reached out to the state agency repeatedly for help in dealing with the children to no avail. That should be the focus of any investigation, not the Harris family, some Republicans said Thursday.

 

We know that there are at least a dozen accounts where the Harrises were told beforehand what they were getting into and that they weren't ready...and that DHS wasn't going to give them the girls until the Harrises used their connections/clout to strong arm DHS into handing them over. So how again did DHS fail when they weren't allowed to do their job in the first place?

 

Oh, and in case you were wanting a bit of extra agro facepalm to go with your breakfast this morning, Harris is the Vice Chairman of a state committee that oversees DHS.