Horrific details emerged today of the abuse suffered by adopted twins at the hands of their new parents, painting a gruesome picture of the torture that lead to the death of the young girl Nubia Barahona. Adoptive parents Jorge and Carmen Barahona are awaiting trial for the murder of Nubia and extreme abuse of her surviving brother Victor, and tapes released today go into lurid detail about what Victor remembers of his time in their Florida home. After Nubia’s naked body was found in the back of Jorge’s trunk last February, with a badly injured Victor in the front seat and an unconscious Jorge nearby, the young boy was put into the care of another foster family after spending several weeks in the hospital. His new foster mother told investigators that the sight of her putting on false eyelashes makes Victor remember how he lost his own lashes when his adoptive father glued his eyes shut.

A 12-year-old girl who shot her father dead while he was sleeping acted in self defense after years of sexual abuse, a jury has found. The girl from Katy, Texas grabbed Mark Nelson’s gun from under his mattress and shot the 38-year-old in the back of the head in April 2009. But after four days of deliberation, a jury cleared the girl, now 15, of murder, believing she had been choked and sexually abused by her father.

A teenage girl was found hanged after a blunder by her barrister caused the collapse of the rape trial of a man who abused her from the age of 13. Prosecutor David Jones breached strict legal guidelines on witness contact when he discussed the case of 16-year-old karate star Dana Baker with her at his house. As a result, the trial of her coach Jaspal Riat, 48, was scrapped. Mr Jones resigned from the Bar soon afterwards.

NEW YORK —Is naked hanky-panky in a kindergarten classroom among five-year-olds just normal curiosity — or an example of negligent teachers? Two kindergarten parents at PS 189 in Washington Heights think they know. They claim a group of five-year-olds took their clothes off, and were exploring their private parts, even engaging in what appeared to be oral sex while a teacher was in the classroom. This naked hanky-panky continued from September until January — according to their lawyer — even though the parents complained to the teacher and principal.

NEW YORK — A teacher’s aide is behind bars after allegedly videotaped himself spanking one naked child and fondling another in a public school classroom. Taleek Brooks, 40, was arrested after federal agents discovered the videos on a computer seized last month from his home during a child porn investigation. The victims are identified only as current or former students at the Weeksville School in Brooklyn, where Brooks had worked since 1995.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A teenage girl who is accused of stabbing, strangling and slitting the throat of a 9-year old neighbor girl wrote in her journal on the night of the killing that it was an “ahmazing” and “pretty enjoyable” experience. The words written by Alyssa Bustamante were read aloud in court Monday as part of a sentencing hearing in the October 2009 murder of her neighbor, Elizabeth Olten. Bustamante was 15 at the time of the murder, but is being tried as an adult.

CHATSWORTH, CA– Police arrested an elementary school janitor last Monday on suspicion of child molestation. The mother of the unidentified victim reported there had been inappropriate contact between her child and a janitor at Germain Elementary School on Friday, according to police. Officers arrested Paul Adame, 37, of Encino on suspicion of committing a lewd act with a child.

SOUTH LOS ANGELES, CA– Miramonte teacher, Martin Springer, was formally charged with 3 counts of lewd acts with a child Tuesday. Springer, 49, is accused of inappropriate behavior with a female student during a three-month period in 2009. He is expected to be arraigned on felony charges Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES, CA — A mother now faces child endangerment charges after authorities say she left her 6-month-old baby with a homeless couple and then disappeared. It happened Monday night about 11:30 p.m. near the intersection of 3rd and Main streets in downtown Los Angeles, according to police.

Jeffrey Dean McDaniel is wanted in Placer County, California, for his alleged repeated sexual contact with a minor female relative. The girl was thirteen years old at the time of the abuse. In September of 1998, McDaniel left the area with the girl and her whereabouts remained unknown until she was located in Mexico in September of 2000. According to the girl, McDaniel had traveled with her throughout California and Nevada before ending up in Mexico. McDaniel continued to sexually assault the girl, which resulted in a pregnancy. McDaniel’s whereabouts remain unknown. On February 28, 2001, an arrest warrant was issued for McDaniel after he was charged with child custody deprivation. A federal arrest warrant was issued in May of 2001, and McDaniel was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Marion Taylor is wanted for his alleged molestation of a female victim when she was eight years old in Newark, New Jersey. A local arrest warrant was issued for Taylor on August 20, 2010, and he was charged with sexual assault as well as endangering the welfare of a child. A federal arrest warrant was issued on March 10, 2011, in the District of New Jersey, and Taylor was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

We’ve all known it’s been a really bad problem for a long, long time. But across the nation, new data are surfacing to illustrate just how bad the problem is – and what must be done to keep the epidemic of child abuse and neglect from worsening. Just last week, a 23-member legislative committee issued […]

“We thought it would be fun to have a lot of children” is a quote attributed to Robert L. Gaskill (63) of River Forest, IL, taken from a 2009 interview with the Pioneer Press’ Forest Leaves. Gaskill, who had fostered about 75 different children over the years, was ordered to be held on a $50 million cash bond yesterday (Sat., Feb. 4) for allegedly sexually assaulting two of his female foster children. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Gaskill, molested the minors over a period between 1996 to 2009.

TEMECULA — A Temecula woman was sentenced Friday to 19 years to life in prison for driving under the influence in a crash that killed her 9-year-old daughter. Karen Faye Honeycutt, 41, admitted to drunk driving and pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter in the death of her daughter, Chloe Honeycutt, in January 2011. She also pleaded guilty to inflicting great bodily harm on two of her other children who survived the crash.