WEBVTT - "Beautiful Black Boys" 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.720 One quick thing. A week ago, on Tuesday, January two 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:11.239 thousand nineteen, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office received word from 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.360 the Department of Justice that the foot discovered near the 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:18.599 crash site in May was positively identified as belonging to 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.759 Hannah Hart. It is now believed by officials that she 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.520 died in the crash with her family. The notice reads, 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.840 Davante Hart is still listed as a missing person with 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:33.479 the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. The case remains open and active. 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:41.400 Stay tuned for the latest installment of Broken Hearts. Before 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.600 we begin today's episode, Liz and I feel compelled to 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:47.360 address something we think is vitally important to the story. 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:53.400 We're white, Loses of Irish Catholic descent. She has freckles, 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:55.360 and I. She thinks are green, but I'd say are 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.440 blue with a swirl of cinnamon. I am of Jewish descent, 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.120 of blonde hair and hazel eze. We were both raised 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.760 on the East Coast. We both attended private colleges in 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:12.280 the Northeast. We are both mothers to white children. For 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.119 many reasons, we are not the ideal people to delve 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:18.080 into the tricky and very problematic race issues that this 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:21.679 case presents. We'd also be remiss not to talk about 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.040 these issues, as they're crucial to the larger socio cultural 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.600 context of the story. In this episode, you'll hear from 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.720 Nathaniel Davis, who helped raise three of the Hart kids 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:35.200 before they were adopted, and April Dinwoodie, who was a 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:38.520 transracial adoption expert here in New York, and more from 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:42.560 Shaunda Jones, the lawyer who fought to keep Jeremiah, Davante 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.760 and Sierra with their biological aunt. Each of these people 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.160 has a different perspective on how race and bias may 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:55.600 have played a role in the deaths of Marcus, Hannah Davante, Abigail, Jeremiah, 0:01:55.760 --> 0:02:00.360 and Sierra Hart. From Glamour and How Stuff Works, This 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:04.400 is Broken Hearts, I'm Justine Harmon and I'm Liz Egan. 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:12.040 Before Jane and Sarah Hart adopted their second set of 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:16.720 siblings in two thousand nine, Davante, Jeremiah, and Sierra had 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:21.880 been Davanta d E v O n t A Jeremiah 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:26.840 j E R m I A h and Sierra c 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:31.720 I E r A Davis. They had lived in Houston, Texas, 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:36.000 with their older brother Dante, their mother, Sherry Hurd, and 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:40.079 her boyfriend Nathaniel Davis, whose last name the children had 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.320 taken even before Sherry and Nathaniel got married in two 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:47.560 thousand ten. Here's Nathaniel, Oh, no, tell me that I 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:52.000 was They chuckles from me and sell it to my 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:57.080 room and he removed them for less to the audio 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.400 quality here isn't great, but Nathaniel saying that he was 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:04.120 the only dad those kids ever had, and that CPS 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.240 removed the siblings from his and Sherry's care when Sierra 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:10.640 was born in two thousand five. The children lived briefly 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:13.320 with his brother, he says, before all three entered the 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:17.919 Texas foster care system. Nathaniel remembers the three younger siblings 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:21.360 personalities well, even though he hasn't seen them in over 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:29.800 a decade. La Sierra all the time, always tried to 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:34.960 protective and laugh. Remember, Nathaniel wasn't the only family these 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:39.960 kids had. Before jenn and Sarah Hart adopted Davante, Jeremiah, 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:43.960 and Sierra in two thousand nine, their aunt Priscilla fought 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:47.880 hard to get them out of foster care. Priscilla hired 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:51.520 Houston attorney Shawanda Jones to help her plead her case 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.400 and was successful in having them returned to her care. 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.200 She even moved to a new house to accommodate the children, 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.920 but a decision to let their mom, Sherry, watch the 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.440 kids while Priscilla went to work, resulted in the kids 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:09.240 being removed from the home. Sherry had a well documented 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.440 substance abuse problem. According to court records, she was a 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:15.800 crack cocaine abuser and was forbidden contact with the kids 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:21.000 and CPS exercised a no tolerance policy. The children had 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.479 only lived with their aunt for five and a half months. 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.320 Priscilla's decision to let the kids mom babysit was a 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:30.680 bad judgment call, yes, but Shaunda says the tenor of 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.159 the court proceedings stands out in her twenty two years 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:37.200 as an attorney. The father's rights were being terminated because 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:41.599 I think she had alcohol problems and the mother had 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.080 drug problems, and so that's why their rights are terminated, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.240 which I don't take issue with that. I think you 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.480 know in that instant that was the prudent thing to do. 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:54.520 But I always have taken issue within this case is 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:59.760 the harsh manner the way that they dealt with Miss Celestine. 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.880 The presiding judge for that court was Patrick Shelton, who 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:06.200 is now retired. In response to questions about how the 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:10.080 Hearts were allowed to adopt Davonte, Jeremiah, and Sierra after 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:13.599 an allegation of child abuse had already been made against them, 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:15.919 he pointed to the lack of criminal charges in the 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:20.120 state of Minnesota. Shelton told Criminal Justice site the appeal 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.480 Unless there's a criminal charge, what can you do, Believe 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:26.520 it or not. Kids get bruises that do not get beat. 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:30.839 Shelton also denies reports that he or his associate judge 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:38.080 favored non relative adoptions over placement with family members. The 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.799 agency that facilitated Jen and Sarah's adoption of the Davis 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:45.680 siblings closed in two thousand eleven. It was called the 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:49.919 Permanent Family Resource Center. The offices were located on a 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.760 commercial gride of land in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, which is 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:57.200 about a fifteen minute drive from Alexandria, where the women 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.960 lived until two thousand thirteen, and our chived version of 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:04.240 the now defunct website says it was started in two 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.520 thousand by three families who had adopted eight children out 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:12.159 of the child welfare system. According to a page report 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.400 filed by the Minnesota Department of Human Services in September 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:18.919 two thousand nine, only months after Jen and Sarah officially 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.120 adopted their second set of siblings through the agency, the 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.840 Permanent Family Resource Center was placed on conditional status after 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:31.560 accruing seventeen licensing violations. The violations ranged from failing to 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.800 submit paperwork to failure to complete proper background checks on families. 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.760 In the past ten years, the Minnesota DHS has only 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:44.400 issued three conditional licenses for child placement agencies. Back when 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:47.880 the Hearts were clients, the Permanent Family Resource Center ran 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:51.640 the Waiting Children Program, a service that provided families in 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.560 Minnesota and North Dakota with access to foster kids living 0:06:55.640 --> 0:07:01.080 in Texas, Washington, Ohio, Idaho, Oregon, California, and Florida. The 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:04.480 website reads children in this program are living in foster 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:08.559 homes or residential facilities and a termination of parental rights 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:13.080 has occurred, they are legally available for adoption. The average 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:15.920 weight for a child after approval of the home assessment 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:20.760 is between six months and three years. It took Jen 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:25.680 and Sarah Heart less than a year to legally adopt Davonte, Jeremiah, 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:30.440 and Sierra. Our Field reporter Laurence Smiley reached out to 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:34.040 three former Permanent Family Resource Center employees about how these 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:37.800 children were matched with the Hearts as we record this episode, 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:41.520 those emails have not yet been returned. Davantae, Jeremiah, and 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:45.000 sarah stepdad, Nathaniel Davis, still has a hard time understanding 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.480 why Jen and Sarah were able to adopt the children 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.520 while also being under investigation on allegations of child abuse. 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.000 He goes on to say, I'm going to tell you 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:03.240 why they figured we were poor, didn't have nothing to 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.080 fight them with. They should have given other people an 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:10.960 opportunity to adopt them kids. After DeVante, Jeremiah, and Sierra 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:15.400 were removed from Priscilla Celestine's care, Shanda says she barely 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:17.640 had a chance to say goodbye to the children she 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:20.880 had cared for for the past several months. I think 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:25.640 maybe saw them one last time. Both Nathaniel and Shonda 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.920 believe the institutionalized bias may have informed the court's decision. 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:33.880 You just got the complete feeling that they already had 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.559 made up their mind. It's almost like you're just wasting 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:38.800 their time. You're in the way, and it's like, this 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.440 is supposed to be a judicial system where you weigh evidence. 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.080 Why would you be so emotional and so angry over 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:48.800 somebody during their job. Because this lady wanted to make 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:51.720 sure that she kept her niece and nephews and not 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:53.959 allowed them to go off as she never seen them 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:57.240 again in life. Despite trying to find out more details 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.880 regarding the siblings adoption, Shaunda says she was never given 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.840 more information about their placement family. I saw some communication 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:08.040 with Brian Fisher, who was a children's attorney, and he 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.439 said he would have to fly to Minneapolis, so they 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:12.280 sent the kids out of state. And that didn't even 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:15.120 make sense anyway. I was like, as Hughes, Texas, is 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:17.440 you mean to tell me that there's no one? Why 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:19.480 is there this effort to harry up and get these 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.760 kids out of Texas. When Lauren reached Brian Fisher over 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:25.640 the phone in August to ask about the case, he said, 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:30.319 only no, ma'am, no ma'am, no ma'am. Adoptions are sealed 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:34.680 in Texas. Goodbye. It wasn't until March of this year, 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.360 when Shanta saw reports of the crash on TV, that 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.440 she realized what had happened to DeVante, Jeremiah and Sierra 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:43.120 and who got custody of them? So many years ago, 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:45.160 I was sitting here in my office and I was 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.439 looking at the news and I heard them say Minneapolis, 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:51.080 and then they said Devant, and then that's when I said, 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:54.800 oh my god, those are the kids. Shanna called Priscilla 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.600 to break the news. When I finally make the connection, 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:01.320 I was just horrified, and I had admit, because she's 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:03.640 somebody who can't listen to a lot of bad things 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:07.200 that happened. But I called her around like eleven o'clock 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.480 at and I asked her, have you heard about that kids? 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:12.240 Where the those kids were driven off the cliff? And 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.240 she said no, So she said she couldn't hear what 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.120 I was about to tell her. So I called it 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:21.400 back the next day and that's when I revealed to 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.720 her they were driven off the cliff. And you know, 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.640 she she she says, she just can't. She didn't want 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:29.360 to accept that. She always thought that the kids were 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:33.400 in a better place. But she was, you know, she 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:38.640 was devastated. She was devastated, like so many people who 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:43.679 learned the fate of Marcus. Hannah Tavante, Abigail Jeremiah, and 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.560 Sierra Hart. Shanda takes issue with the disconnect between the 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:51.040 facts and emerged on paper and the fiction Jen Hart 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:55.640 presented on Facebook. She recalls reading about a particular post 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:59.360 in which jen called out the racism her children experienced 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:02.400 on a regular or basis. These kids are being used 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.080 as a prop I read this article where I think 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:07.160 one of the adopted monks has said she was in 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:10.360 a store. She was checking out in an older white 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:13.520 gentleman and this patch here who was also Caucasian. We're 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:17.360 having this discussion about Davonte asking him something about whether 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.000 he was going to play sports. And I won't believe 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:23.800 for one moment that that conversation took place. That never happened. 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:27.000 We scoured Jen Hart's Facebook feed, and sure enough, a 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:30.520 post from November two thousand fourteen refers to this interaction. 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:35.800 The post reads, quote, we were standing in the grocery checkoutline. 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.080 An elderly man was standing at the end of the 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.400 bagging area, conversing with the woman checking us out. He 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:46.000 spots our son looks him up and down. Man Colon, 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:48.199 I can tell you were going to be a baseball 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.560 player when you grow up. Son pauses, tilts his head 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:57.720 and gives a closed mouth grin. Actually, no, baseball isn't 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.840 really my thing. The post was on like this a 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.520 little bit, with the woman bagging groceries in what Jen 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:08.760 describes as a befuddled, nearly astonished voice, saying, quote, what 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.360 I have never met a kaid that looks like you 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:15.280 that doesn't play sports, and the man agreeing with a chuckle, Right, 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:20.400 never they all do. Gentleman's having to watch her child 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:25.120 be subjected to ongoing racial stereotyping, but doesn't step in. Instead, 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:28.640 she says, her son responds, well, of course you've never 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.000 met a kid like me. I'm one of a kind. 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:34.520 I'm going to be myself no matter how much people 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:36.959 try to make me something I am not. She adds 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.559 at the end, I think this kid will be all 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:43.760 right no matter what is tossed at him. This kind 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:48.360 of storytelling from Jen may seem benign at first, but 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.480 when it factors into an ongoing pattern of isolation and 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:56.880 chronic abuse, the narrative takes on a sinister undertone. Jen 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:00.720 and Sarah Hart had taken six black kids from Houston, 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:04.320 one of the most diverse cities in America and moved 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:08.280 them from one rural town to the next. For context, 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:12.280 a two thousand seventeen census report found that Woodland, Washington, 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.800 the last place the Hearts lived, is at least ninety 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:20.800 two percent white. Only point three percent of Woodland's population 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:33.520 is black. Friends of the Hearts often recount the stories 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:36.480 Jan and Sarah told about how unwelcoming their neighbors were, 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:40.400 how much abuse this unconventional family faced, and how I'm 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.760 safe it was for them at times. Bill Groner lived 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:46.240 next door to them in West Lynn, Oregon, where the 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:50.760 population is white. Bill believes that maintaining a sense of 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.240 fear might have helped Jen and Sarah keep the ongoing 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.360 abuse under wraps. He spent the past four years playing 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:01.960 keyboard at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Portland. The website 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:04.079 from Mount all of It claims the church was built 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.480 in seven from lumber provided by the Ku Klux Klan 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:10.520 to keep the African American organization on what they deemed 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:14.760 the proper side of town. For the record, Bill is white. 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:19.360 I've always played music in church. I play at an 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:24.000 African American church, so I'm aware about, you know, racism. 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.480 It maybe covert rather than over, even if it's kind 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:32.040 of almost subliminal, I could see parents wanting to protect 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:36.000 their kids always. Maybe that's part of why they told 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:39.800 the kids to kind of not be overly conversational or 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:45.720 friendly with neighbors because people could secretly harbor prejudice against you. 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:51.000 But when you read more about what's what actually happened, 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.120 I don't think they want the kids to tell what 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.960 was going on. I think that's really part of the deal, 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:00.640 because all would have taken as one kid to come 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.160 over and say, you know, I'm hungry, could have some 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:06.840 food for me to call Children's Services. Groner isn't the 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:09.800 only one who noted the way the Heart women, especially Jen, 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:13.920 would cut their family off from outsiders, but their festival 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:18.520 friend Ian Spurling only came to that realization after they died. 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:21.280 It's like, okay, so we have some dates set up 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.680 they canceled, like, hey, let's plan a play date at 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.120 the park list Tuesday. Oh yeah, that'd be great. And 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.040 then the day comes, Hey, we're not going to be around. 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:31.120 You know, a few little things here and there that 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.680 you know, we never found anything more about. Now looking back, 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.320 it's like she was shielding them from being close to people. 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:40.080 I felt like we were really close with them. But 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:42.800 at the same time, are they like our family that 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:44.840 just stops by all the time? You know, not at all? 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.680 Now looking back, there were some dumb moments there. In particular, 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.760 like Marcus, Marcus and Jeremiah, they were very reserved and 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:56.720 almost stoic in nature. And then when you talk to him, boom, 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:00.440 snap into a smile, snap into some personality, and and boom, 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:02.160 right when you stopped talking, go right back to a 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.880 stoic face. And Ian got closer than most. Back in 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:10.240 June two, eighteen, our Field reporter Lauren talked to Ken Noatake, 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:15.200 an activist who started the Free Hugs project. Ken first 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:17.400 reached out to the family when he saw that viral 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.360 image of Davante hugging a police officer at the Black 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:24.240 Lives Matter rally. He thought perhaps he could mentor the boy. 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.560 Here's Lauren. Ken first held a free Hug sign at 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:33.320 the Boston Marathon in He soon extended his campaign for 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:36.760 peace and racial understanding to Black Lives Matter rallies in 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:41.160 college campuses across the country. When Davante's photo went viral 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:46.000 six months later, Ken social media lit up. Ken read 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:49.520 about how Davante had white moms. He also noticed the 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:53.880 boy's curious outfit fedora hat, leather, pea coat, and why 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.800 is looking face, the age of which was hard to peg. 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.480 He sent a direct message to Jen's acco out on 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:04.800 Facebook when his photo of him holding that free Hug 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:08.440 sign and crying in front of the officer. When that 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:14.040 went viral, my social media went crazy because it was 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:18.520 the second time an African American was shown like that 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.600 in regards to law enforcement. And that's what my work 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.719 of the Free Hugs project really begin as. And so 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:30.439 shortly after DeVante hearts photo comes out with him holding 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:32.639 that free Hug sign in front of a police officer, 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.160 I'm getting all of these emails from people saying, Ken, 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.919 your work is spreading and look at the impact that 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.720 you're having, even on young people. And so right away 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:43.840 I felt like I need to meet this kid, and 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.760 so I started searching online and then made contact with 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:52.919 their family the Facebook thought might benefit from having a 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.040 blackmail figure in his life. In fact, it was something 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.520 he himself had craved growing up. I was raised by 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:02.480 a single mother, and I appreciate my mother and all 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:04.919 of the strength that she had to raise four boys 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.919 and my sister, but my entire life I longed for 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:13.480 a father. Originally Ken thought he was messaging with Davante, 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:15.840 but then it became clear he was chatting with an 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:20.720 adult Jen over Facebook. She said she preferred her children 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:25.440 lived what she called a private lifestyle. Understandable really, how 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.159 many parents out there willingly connect their young children with 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:31.480 strangers over the internet. And after the amount of attention 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:35.440 that photos list died, all the more reason to be protective. Still, 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:38.680 the two remained friends on Facebook, a choice Ken now 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:43.199 believes was intentional on Jen's part. She kind of intercepted 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:47.480 that potential friendship or connection that we could have had. 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.040 It wasn't until after that I was like, oh, now 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:53.560 it all makes sense. You wanted them to live a 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.360 private lifestyle because if he would have started sharing with 0:18:56.400 --> 0:19:00.159 me that food was being with Hell. She kept a 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:04.160 very close circle of people that she can kind of 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.479 play this role with that everything is okay, and so 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:11.520 then the truth wouldn't get out or they wouldn't believe it. 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:15.480 Back when we started looking into this story, we wanted 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:18.120 to better understand what it takes to make a blended 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:21.359 family like the hearts work in the real world. Lauren 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:25.240 spoke with April Dinwoody, a transracial adoption expert and the 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:30.640 former executive director of the Donaldson Adoption Institute. April Dinwoody's 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:34.840 expertise and transracial adoption starts close to home. She was 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.399 adopted out of foster care as a toddler by a 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.920 white family and Rhode Island. The way her family dealt 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:43.920 with their racial differences was to not talk about race 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:48.000 at all. As an adult, hungry to connect with black culture, 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:52.040 April moved to Harlem. She became CEO of the Donaldson 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:55.440 Adoption Institute and mentors kids of color who are adopted 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.600 by white families. She used to host a workshop called 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:01.199 what my White parents did it Know? And Why I 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:05.639 turned out Okay Anyway. April is vocal about the flaws 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:09.840 and the adoption system. More often than not, professionals are underpaid, 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:14.560 Black children are overrepresented. Not enough attention is paid to 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:20.160 bias training. Sometimes adoptions are rushed if you look at 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:24.360 what tends to happen when it comes to data. States 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:27.919 can have a sense of not leaving young people in 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.600 foster care for a long time, so things get rushed. 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.679 So sometimes the termination of prontal rights happens too quickly. 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:39.199 Sometimes an adoption happens too quickly. She also believes that 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:43.160 the American perception of adoption is binary. Adopted parents are 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:46.560 good parents who can't take care of their children bad. 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:49.400 She says, not enough attention is paid to the gray 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:52.360 areas that exist. What kind of words come up when 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:55.840 you think of parents who have their rights terminated? Poor, 0:20:56.160 --> 0:21:00.520 drug abusers, addicts, You know, all these really loaded terms, 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:02.480 and then you say, what comes up for you with 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:07.119 parents who adopt? Family? Love, safety? You so, and then 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:09.640 even when you look at, you know, families and parents 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:13.160 who relinquished voluntarily, there is a much warmer feeling about 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:16.439 that versus parents who have their rights terminated. It's just 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:20.560 something that we have embedded in our perceptions. Like Shanda Jones, 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:23.399 April believes that the system may have favored the hearts 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:26.000 and the family. Like the hearts, I could see how 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:28.920 they would be very appealing within the foscare system, very appealing. 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:31.639 She says, there is no way to discuss this case 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:34.000 without taking a hard look at what she calls the 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:37.920 deep layers of racism within the child welfare system. There's 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:41.080 so many issues of just racism and raising class differences. 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:43.879 It's just hard not to have that just be so 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:46.240 front and center. You know, you have an aunt who 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:49.840 is ready willing and able, and you've got families that 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:54.000 are struggling for whatever reason and doing what they can 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.240 to rehabilitate, and there are people of color, and then 0:21:57.280 --> 0:22:00.960 you've got white family resources available Bowle, and you can 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:03.760 see it coming so clearly. You know that that this 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:07.280 is how this would play out. Institutional racism within chow 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:10.720 Wilfare is this there. There's no question. As a woman 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:13.639 of color who was taken in by white parents, April 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:17.520 is uniquely aware of the challenges of transracial adoption, how 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:20.959 important questions about identity can get glossed over, or how 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:23.399 a child may grow to feel ambivalent towards their birth culture, 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:27.000 or as if they're stuck between two worlds. First and foremost, 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:29.840 they should be living in diverse areas with examples and 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:33.040 teachers and community members and friends close friends of the 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:35.480 family that are people of color. Like you just can't 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:39.200 raise a brown or black kid in a situation where 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:41.399 they're one of a few people of color. Is just 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:44.439 not safe anymore. It's not emotionally safe. It's not physically safe. 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:47.399 Um So I think first and foremost they should be 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:50.200 living in diverse areas and parents need to be uncomfortable, 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:52.920 right Like white parents need to make it their business 0:22:52.960 --> 0:22:54.560 to go and be in places where they're in a 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:56.480 minority so they can get a little bit of a 0:22:56.520 --> 0:22:59.760 sense of what their kid feels. Ultimately, she believes that 0:23:00.280 --> 0:23:03.879 multiple pleas for racial understanding and tolerance on Facebook not 0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:08.280 to mention the family's presence at protests was self congratulatory. 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:11.000 I just remember looking at Davante's face, went back into 0:23:11.119 --> 0:23:13.399 the two thousand and fourteen right, it was like it 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:15.880 just struck me. I mean I had no idea honestly, 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:18.439 and no idea that he was a young person that 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:21.720 was involved in the foster system. But but something didn't 0:23:21.840 --> 0:23:23.960 sit right, and just so much pain in that and 0:23:24.000 --> 0:23:27.240 it just felt like it felt uncomfortable to me, honestly, 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:29.480 It just it just did. And and then to find 0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:33.719 out his backstory and this tragic end to his life, 0:23:33.760 --> 0:23:38.120 it's just sort of reinforces this idea that some parents 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:40.879 do operate this way, which is, you know, look what 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:44.960 we did, we're symbols of you know, racial harmony, and 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:48.320 our kids are evidence of that, and it's just really 0:23:48.359 --> 0:23:54.320 really uncomfortable and exploitive and um, it's sort of heartbreaking, 0:23:54.480 --> 0:23:57.919 and it's really calculated. Right Was it calculated or was 0:23:57.960 --> 0:24:01.840 it ignorant? If you reads heartfelt words on the topic 0:24:01.880 --> 0:24:06.520 of systemic racism, you might find yourself impressed by her conviction. 0:24:07.680 --> 0:24:11.560 On July seven, two thousand sixteen, she took to Facebook 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:16.720 to air her frustrations. My beautiful black boys, she wrote, 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:20.920 alongside a picture of Jeremiah and Davante smiling in hoodies 0:24:20.960 --> 0:24:25.959 and beanies. We talk endlessly about the realities of this world. 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:31.399 So much beauty, so much pain and suffering. These boys 0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:35.320