Death of little Hana Williams linked to "To Train Up a Child"

[countryjake]

Hana Grace-Rose Williams was found dead just after midnight on May 12, naked and wrapped in an old sheet, face down with her mouth in the mud, in her backyard, in rainy 42 degree weather. She was only 13 years old and had been living with her adoptive parents since coming to America from Ethiopia in 2008. The cause of death was hypothermia.

After her death, the hospital and coroner called in Child Protective Services, marking the first time the agency was notified about any of the seven biological or two adopted Williams children, said Sherry Hill, a spokeswoman for Washington state's Children's Administration. "We were concerned at the time of Hana's death, as were the medical professionals, that it appeared she had experienced significant weight loss and that she had died from hypothermia," Hill said.

The eight surviving children were placed into foster care in mid-July after the Williams parents refused to allow them to speak with investigators privately, she said. Their oldest son has since turned 18 and decided to move back home. A 10-year-old Ethiopian-born son is hearing-impaired and joined the family at the same time as Hana, but was not her biological sibling, Hill said. "He was treated nearly as badly as Hana was: having food withheld for punishment, being hit with a plumbing cord, forcing him out in the cold for punishment," she said.

The Williams children had been homeschooled, but now some are attending public schools, Hill said. Each has been placed in a foster home with at least one sibling, she added, to make the adjustment easier. All of the children were very isolated and had very little contact with non-family members, Hill said. They lived in a gated community in a rural area on about 5 acres.

Larry and Carri Williams of Sedro-Woolley, Washington, a small town about halfway between Seattle and Vancouver, Canada, were arrested on Thursday, September 29 and jailed on $500,000 bond. Each was charged with Homicide by Abuse and Assault of a Child in the First Degree. Charging documents in the murder case against the Williams show Hana was the victim of ongoing abuse and neglect, a corporal punishment style of parenting straight out of a book sold on Amazon.com. The book is titled "To Train Up A Child."

There is currently a Petition Drive at Change.Org directed at Amazon requesting that they review their decision to stock this book, "To Train Up A Child", by Michael and Debi Pearl, or any other book or product which advises the physical abuse of children.

To sign the petition go here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/amazon-refuse-to-carry-books-which-advocate-the-physical-abuse-of-children


To read the "Probable Cause" document on the investigation of Hana's death and Immanuel's abuse go here:

Skagit County couple charged with death of adopted child
http://www.king5.com/news/crime/Skagit-County-couple-charged-in-death-of-adopted-child-130822743.html


To find the link to join the FaceBook Group which has been actively waging a campaign all summer long to get conclusive answers from Skagit County authorities and Justice for Hana, go here:

Ethiopian community wants answers in girl's death
http://www.king5.com/news/Ethiopian-community-concerned-about-death-of-13-year-old-girl-127624458.html


Murder charges for parents who left girl outside
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016361753_hana30m.html

[ingac70]

1. These fruitcakes are getting kids from overseas just to abuse them.

WTF? Wasn't the little girl from that other cracked family from Liberia? All other nations need to cease letting anyone from the US adopt until we straighten this shit out.

[BlueIris]

2. It is horrifying. And I feel bad for all the loving families who may have a hard time adopting

from other countries because of the sick bastards who would let something this terrible happen to a small child.

[Thor_MN]

8. Bastards who would let something this terrible happen?

They didn't let it happen, they caused it to happen. It's the difference between a child accidently drown because of inattention and holding the child's head under water.

[countryjake]

10. It was a concerted effort to break her will, cure her of a "rebellious nature"...

she was stripped of both her dignity and her self-worth, before they ultimately took her life away.

[countryjake]

11. There are many adoptive families who have also taken in children from Ethiopia...

who are absolutely outraged about this murder and raising a healthy ruckus, over on that FaceBook Group, "Remembrance of Hanna" (her name was spelled wrong when the group was conceived, and cannot be edited now). Some would like for the adoption agency to be held accountable, for having such seemingly lax follow-up procedures.

Hana had lost more than 30 pounds since she arrived here from Ethiopia, so something as simple as a current photograph could have alerted the Adoptive Advocates International that she was NOT being fed properly.

[countryjake]

6. I think in that death of Lydia Shatz the adoption agency was linked to trafficking...

both for cash and some religious notion of forming an "army of god's soldiers". And I believe that Liberia has since been closed to any international adoptions.

But the woman who murdered the little girl you speak of was also using that Pearl handbook on how to abuse children without getting caught, subtitled "Spare the Quarter-inch Plumber's Supply Line, Spoil the Child" :sarcasm:

[Blue_Tires]

27. yeah, there is a disturbing pattern here...

There are probably some common threads in all these adoptions...

[LisaL]

3. I am not sure how much the book had to do with it, considering

all six of their bio children are still alive.

[countryjake]

7. The seven biological kids were not subjected to the same "methods"...

of "training" that the two adopted children suffered. According to charging papers, the book was specifically mentioned as the guide that Carri Williams was using to try to quash the "rebellious nature" of her adopted kids.

Also, those "methods" of "training" should never even be considered when dealing with children who have no long-time connection with the "trainer". Both Hana and Immanuel only just came to live with the Williams' family in 2008.

[burrowowl]

4. K&R

[countryjake]

18. Thank you!

of the 635 who've viewed this post so far, only 11 have even responded.

It took our rural Skagit County authorities two months to even actively mount any investigation into the mysterious death of little Hana Williams and more than four months to finally charge the Williams' with her murder. We have the Ethiopian Community of Seattle to thank for those results...most up here in Skagit Co. have never even heard of Hana Williams and honestly, could care less about her.

Hana died unnoticed and unloved, out in the lush evergreen of our beautiful state...aching, cold, hungry, and alone.

[cleanhippie]

5. Religious ideology at its finest.

:puke:


When are we going to grow up as humans and leave the ignorant mythology behind?

[countryjake]

13. I agree with that sentiment, but I don't think that "beating the sin"...

out of a child is what most religions aspire to, not anymore, anyway. There was a time when the phrase, "spare the rod, spoil the child" was the common rule for most all parents in this nation; practically everyone whipped their kids and often if you were punished that way at school, you'd get another even worse beating once you got home...corporal punishment of children has only been frowned upon in recent history, here, and regrettably, it is still legal in the United States.

But there is also now a fomenting movement afoot, roiling amongst ultra-conservatives, to "take back the children", by applying that rule dictated in the bible's proverbs...Hana is not the first, and surely will not be the last, to die at the hands of a delusional fundamentalist trying to cleanse a child of "ungodliness". Inflicting pain appears to be their motto.

[uppityperson]

14. extremist fundamentalists of all stripes suck.

[countryjake]

25. Notably, when they get away with inflicting extreme pain. n/t.

!

[HughBeaumont]

9. Who Would Jesus Beat to Death??

What a sad story and a sadder society that this is condoned and allowed. Reinforces my belief that more than a few fundamentalpatients are a few beers short of a six pack.

[countryjake]

23. Exactly!

Deluded is what I think, but it's one that carries so much societal confidence and bureaucratic reinforcement...the ruse that's been going on for thousands of years.

In Hana's case, I really don't believe that any mental deficiencies were at play in the torturing of her and the little brother, tho that may be what the defense will try and claim. If so, the entire family will need to be institutionalized and treated for sociopathy. The mother had clearly stated to several acquaintances, since the adoptions, that she wished she had never brought "those children" into her perfect home, but that "returning" them was not an option, that nobody else would want them. So the Williams' set out on a mission to break the two adopted kids of their "rebellious nature"...bootcamping them, is how a couple of the biological children put it. Some of the older kids in that house were at liberty to mete out "punishments" to any of the younger children, so poor Hana and Immanuel could never catch a break, even when the monster "parents" weren't at home.

What they both endured is too sad for words and unbelievable, in this day and age.

[lumberjack_jeff]

12. What's "a plumbing cord"? n/t

[TheWraith]

15. I'm guessing that it's like a pipe snake.

A long, stiff metal cable for rooting out pipes.

[countryjake]

17. It's the suggested "rod" from the Pearl handbook for abuse...

No Greater Joy Minister, Michael Pearl, suggests using a one-quarter-inch plumber’s supply line 10 times, per chastisement, increasing that amount if the child resists the discipline.

A quote directly from the Pearl's website:

"a plumber's supply line is a good spanking tool. You can get it at Wal-Mart or any hardware store. Ask for a plastic, ¼ inch, supply line. They come in different lengths and several colors; so you can have a designer rod to your own taste. They sell for less than $1.00. A baby needs to be trained all day, everyday."

[Ikonoklast]

20. Sounds like a something from an S&M manual.

Why do all religious fundamentalists love beating children?

[Quantess]

22. That is sick!

[XanaDUer]

16. I've never heard of this book, so I looked it up on Amazon

:wtf:

This books sounds like a how-to on how to torture a child. "To Beat Up a Child" might be a more-fitting title.

[AsahinaKimi]

19. To abuse a child

would be the right title for that book. It should get all the negative publicity it deserves.

[cleanhippie]

21. Thats exactly what it is. It even describes how not to leave marks.

[countryjake]

26. Yes! It specifically tells parents to be careful not to leave marks...

and says where on the child's body is the best place to strike.

That damned book is a published guideline on torture, as tho written by an experienced child abuser, noting every horror that can be carried out without raising any notice or suspicions by authorities.

The cold water "chastisements" could have been written by Darth Cheney, himself!

[countryjake]

24. Forced to sleep in a dark locked closet, eat table scraps, bathe outside with a hose...

This is according to the court documents, information that was gleaned from interviews with each of the Williams' eight other children.

Controversial book part of adopted girl's murder investigation
http://www.king5.com/news/crime/New-details-in-starvationfreezing-death-of-adopted-girl-130887208.html

"Court documents say she was considered "rebellious" and was forced to sleep in a dark locked closet, eat table scraps, bathe outside with a hose and was routinely beaten with a plastic rod. Her parents, Larry and Carri Williams, allegedly witheld food for days at a time. At the time of her death last May, the teen weighed just 78 pounds.

"It's the worst case I've ever investigated," said Dr. Francis Chalmers, a pediatrician who examined the case for prosecutors. "I think she was severely abused and ultimately tortured," said Dr. Chalmers.

Little is known about the Williams family, except that they were strict homeschooling Christians who rarely left their five-acre property."



Hana also was not allowed to use the family bathroom, since the Williams' were "afraid" that because she came to this country infected with Hepatitis B, the disease might be spread to other members of the family. They bought a honey-bucket, stuck it behind the barn, and that was the only facility available to Hana, since June of 2010. That and the garden hose, which was the only way she had to clean herself.