Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

2 Children of Richard and Christine Dodson

A 6 year old boy and a 5 year old girl were abused by their adoptive parents, Richard and Christine Dodson. The Dodsons severely starved and beat the boy, and broke the girl’s bones multiple times. The boy was reported to have been beaten with a stick, often forced to run laps around a tree […]

Ricky Holland

Lisa Holland struck her 7 year old adopted son Ricky in the head with a hammer and didn’t seek medical help while he slowly died. Lisa and her husband Tim dumped Ricky’s body in a swamp and said he had disappeared. Police found the body six months later, and Lisa and Tim were charged in […]

Alex Pavlis

Irma and Dino Pavlis adopted two children from Russia, Alex, aged 6, and his biological sister, aged 5. Only six weeks after the adoption, the boy died in the hospital of injuries sustained from beatings he suffered at the hands of his adoptive mother. Irma said she beat Alex because the child was difficult and […]

Child of Stephen Douglas James

The sexual abuse suffered at the hands of her adoptive father, Stephen Douglas James, began when she was 11, the girl reported, but she did not initially tell anyone of the abuse because she was afraid that her father would hurt her or her brothers. She finally told her adoptive mother, who confronted James about […]

Child of Tammy Renea Andrews

Tammy Renea Andrews allegedly tortured her 10 year old adopted son, whom she homeschooled while sending her biological children to school. Andrews is charged with routinely tying the boy up or chaining him, denying him food, and beating him with a baseball bat and a hammer. She also allegedly pinched his tongue with a staple […]

6 Children of Anya James

Officials removed four of Anya James’s adopted children from her home after an older child, who had run away from home and was living on her own, reported her adoptive mother’s abuse. Another older adopted child had lodged a child abuse complaint after moving out of the home several years earlier, but when officials had […]

2 Children of Earnest and Windie Perry

Windie Perry and her adult adopted daughter, Elizabeth, 20, sexually abused and tortured two adopted girls, aged 11 and 13. They were accused of imprisoning the girls in a dog kennel, tying them to cots, depriving them of food for days at a time, beating them with bats and hammers, torturing them with staple guns, […]

2 Children of Shelley Blair

In 2008, Shelley Blair’s two adopted children, a 12 year old boy and a 13 year old girl, ran away from her home and were found wandering at the side of a busy road. The two were severely malnourished and were covered with bruises. Blair pleaded guilty to beating the children, withholding food from them, […]

Chrystal Ramirez and Sister

Chrystal Ramirez, 8 years old, died of abuse suffered at the hands of her adoptive parents, Rubin Stephen and Bettie Ramirez. She was beaten with a cane until her brain bled, and was also starved and severely malnourished. She was often restrained, taped at the wrists and ankles and chained to her bed. Her mouth […]

Child of Peter and Deedra Mitchell

Peter and Deedra Mitchell withheld food from their six year old adopted son, locked him in a basement, forced him to sleep on a rubber mat, handcuffed him, and hung him upside down in a garage, spinning him until he vomited. The boy was severely malnourished when he was discovered by a social worker responding […]