WEBVTT - "If Not Us, Who?" 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:12.080 As Fridayful Meet the Heart Kids as they appeared online. 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:15.800 This is a family sing along Jen posted to YouTube 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.880 back in two thousand thirteen. Davante is on the bongo drum, 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.439 Abigail is holding a guitar but not playing, and Jeremiah 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.320 is shaking a morocco while Hannah dances off to the side. 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:29.680 They're in a sunny room with a gleaming wood floor, 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.120 and the shelves behind them are packed with neatly stacked 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:37.720 picture books. Happy times, right, It certainly looks that way, 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:41.800 especially when Davante pauses to give Hannah a hug. Is 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:46.040 it spontaneous or is the person behind the camera prompting 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:59.680 him with a stern glance. We'll never know, yes, Zula, 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.280 we don't know when Jen and Sarah Hart decided they 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.800 wanted children. Maybe they always wanted to be moms, or 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:12.240 maybe they just felt like kids were the next logical step. 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.840 Years after they adopted six children, Sarah would tell a 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.520 colleague that she wished she'd known it wasn't mandatory to 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:21.560 have a big family. She was the oldest of four kids. 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:25.200 Jen was the oldest of three. We're piecing together the 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:27.480 events that led Jen and Sarah from their early days 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:29.520 together all the way to the edge of that one 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.200 d foot cliff in California. How did they go from 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.959 being just the two of them living in Minnesota working 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.760 at a department store to a family of eight in 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:42.959 less than three years. From glamour and how Stuff Works, 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:48.640 this is Broken Hearts. I'm Justine Harmon and I'm Liz Egan. 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:53.080 We've been looking into the story of the Heart family 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:56.520 for the past six months. In public and on Facebook. 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.800 They looked like the perfect family, fun loving, joyful, and 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:05.080 acky in the best way. But as we've learned, sometimes 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:24.320 perfect is the perfect cover up. In two thousand four, 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:26.960 when Jen and Sarah were in their mid twenties, still 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:30.200 living in Alexandria, still working at Herburger's, they took in 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.920 a fifteen year old foster daughter. Just to give some context, 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.800 This was the same year Minnesota State Senator Michelle Bachman 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:42.799 laid the groundwork for presidential run on an anti gay platform, 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:49.799 calling homosexuality personal bondage, personal despair, and personal enslavement. When 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:52.360 thousands gathered on the steps of the Capitol to rally 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:54.840 for same sex marriage, she spoke out to a Christian 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:58.120 television network, there's something that's happening in our schools. And 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:00.920 one of the reasons why I felt like I was 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.760 called to take up this issue is because of the 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:08.280 profound impact that this would have on every man, every woman, 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.840 every child in the state of Minnesota. Because everyone thought 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.280 this would only impact the one point three percent of 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:17.680 our population that is the same sex individual. And again, 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:23.040 don't misunderstand, I am not here bashing people who are homosexuals, 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:27.240 who are lesbians, who are bisexual, who are transgender. We 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.960 need to have profound compassion for people who are dealing 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.200 with a very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life. 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.600 It's not funny, it's sad. It's part of satan. I 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.600 think to say this is gay, it's anything but gay. 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:43.360 So this is the backdrop for the world in which 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.760 the Hearts started to build their family. You already met 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:50.040 Jordan Smith. She was only nineteen when she worked with 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.720 Jen and Sarah at her burgers our Field. Reporter Lawrence 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:57.480 Smiley talked to Smith about Jen and Sarah's first foray 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:01.160 into parenthood. They are one of my early role models 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:04.040 for what like a non traditional family could look like. 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.680 I was nineteen at the time. The foster child she 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:15.200 was probably I remember one of them sharing with me 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:20.640 a lot of like this girl is so difficult, she's awful, 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:26.120 and that she was eating out of the garbage. It 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:30.279 felt like mean girl gossip, you know, like she's the worst. 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:36.400 It didn't feel like they really had interests in developing 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.479 her as a person and giving her the tools she 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:44.200 needed to be a successful adult. And I just felt 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.719 so sorry for the girl. I wasn't really old enough 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.479 to realize that, like these are shitty parents, But even 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:53.280 at the time, I just kind of was like, this 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:58.960 was a child, she's struggling, Like something's not right about this, 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.120 Like isn't it your job to make her feel more 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:08.200 confident and encourage her to have healthy habits. But you know, 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.240 I also grew up in the Midwest where I didn't 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:18.240 see a lot of like great parental models happening. I 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:22.160 grew up where people still hit their kids in the nineties, 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:27.480 Like in the Midwest and Minnesota, you became parents are 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:33.080 like one and let's be honest, you're you're immature, Like, okay, 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.400 my brain is still developing until I and now I 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.839 have to develop this other human instead of focusing my 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:41.640 energy on you know, becoming the adults I need to become. 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.760 Her burgers would have just like friends and family sale 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.080 and all the makeup counters were filling the books with 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:55.320 a lot of makeovers to like drama more business, and 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.960 so Sarah and Jen signed their foster daughter up for 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:01.360 one of the makeovers as kind of a let's bring 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:03.560 you into our world a little bit, you know, like 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.000 maybe this is something she would want to learn about. 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.320 I was the only teenager working at the counters. They 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:12.640 thought it would be fun to have her go with 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:17.920 another teenage girl. So I did her makeover, and you know, 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:21.080 i'd say things like she had really pretty skin, which 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:25.480 she did, I remember that for some reason. And she 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:31.520 was hunched over, like holding herself in. I could tell 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:36.120 she did not want to be there. I remember Jen 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:41.200 and Sarah, mostly Jen interrupting and answering questions or being 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:46.160 like she doesn't talk much. I remember them being both 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:51.760 very annoyed with the situation, like we came into work 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:55.400 on a day we're not working and we're doing this 0:06:55.560 --> 0:07:00.159 nice thing and our boughter daughters being difficult and annoying it. 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.400 I don't remember her being difficult are annoying. I remember 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:09.800 her being very insecure and unsure of herself, and Jen 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.960 being very intimidating. I didn't see a lot of empathy 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:18.880 coming through, Like I remember that very clearly and being like, huh, 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:26.680 do you feel sorry for this girl. After Jen and 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.560 Sarah died in March, their former foster daughter told the 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:31.880 Seattle Times that she never ate out of the garbage 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.400 she remembered the makeover. She said she was a tomboy 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.440 back then and never wore makeup, which would explain her 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:42.280 slouched posture that day with Jordan's. The former foster daughter, 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:45.800 now in her twenties and preferring to remain anonymous, also 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.280 told the Seattle Times how she remembers Jen and Sarah 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.600 showing her pictures of the three young children they were 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:54.240 planning to adopt. She was thrilled. Jen and Sarah had 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:55.840 told her she was going to stay with them until 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:57.640 she turned eighteen, and now she was going to be 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.800 a big sister. But that's not what happened. They were 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:06.680 applying for the children, the first three. They had gone 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:10.760 and visited them, and I remember them being really excited. 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.400 I didn't apply like a lot of critical thinking to 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:16.960 the situation at the time. I mean, like if I 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.200 had my experience, now I'd be like, you don't seem 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:21.400 very excited with the child you have, why do you 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:25.080 want three more? But mostly I remember hearing it like 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:29.080 after I left her Berger, I'd hear that, like Sara Engin, 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:34.320 they got their three kids, like they're so happy. I 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:39.040 remember vaguely hearing that they dropped the foster daughter off 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:43.920 and like just abandoned her. And I remember being like, 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:49.599 what the fuck? Cold blooded? Like, oh Jesus, there is 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.199 their excitement about getting adopted kids. Did you get the 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.440 sense they really wanted to be moms or I got 0:08:56.480 --> 0:09:01.000 the sense that they wanted the validation be a foster parent, 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:05.040 didn't have the cloud of having children like they want 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:08.880 to be like, we have children that are ours versus 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:12.320 a child? Were watching and do you mean validation as 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.520 in we're a real couple, We're a real you know, 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:27.800 we're a real family. Jenet Sarah dropped their foster daughter 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:31.680 at a therapist office and never returned. She never heard 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.800 from them again. She was moved to a different foster home. 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:38.320 Her belongings were already there. She would not become a 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:42.280 big sister after all, She told the Seattle Times. She 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:51.600 remembers feeling abandoned devastated. Two years later, in two thousand six, 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.760 Jen and Sarah officially adopted those three siblings from the 0:09:54.800 --> 0:10:01.000 Texas foster system, Marcus then seven, Hannah four, and Abigail too. 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:07.199 On December, in a Facebook post celebrating Abigail or Abby's 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.480 twelfth birthday, Jen wrote, she was the first of my 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.920 children I ever held in my arms. Not only is 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.760 today her birthday, but it also marks the day Sarah 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.120 and I became mothers. We flew to Houston, Texas ten 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:22.520 years ago on Christmas Day to meet our first trio 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:25.480 of children. Due to a plethora of issues that came 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:27.640 up with our flight and then finding the hotel had 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:31.160 burned down, we wouldn't meet the children until the next day, December. 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:36.840 We walked into the foster home a bundle of nerves 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:40.839 and excitement. The foster mother called Abby from the upper level. 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:46.160 This dainty little peanut walked out, grabbed the railing, walked 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:49.319 down the stairs, stood right at my feet, and held 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.640 out her arms as a gesture to be picked up. 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.439 I lifted her and she immediately nestled her head right 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:58.000 into my chest, with her tiny arms gripped around me, 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.280 genuine love oozed out of every pore of my body. 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.920 I will never know what it's like to birtha child, 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:08.800 or the feeling of holding your newborn for the first time, 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.920 but I imagine the feeling is much like what I 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:20.600 experienced with Abby. We'll get more into the adoption process, Leader, 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:24.640 but just to give you some quick background, Marcus, Hannah, 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.960 and Abigail fell into several categories that might have made 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.120 them hard to place with adoptive families. They were black. 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:35.240 Black children are overrepresented in foster care and less likely 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:37.560 to be adopted out of it, and it can be 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:40.840 more difficult to find families willing to take on multiple siblings. 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:44.320 Jen and Sarah had their work cut out for them. 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:46.920 They were young, they had no family in the area, 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:53.640 and overnight they became mothers of three. Ten years later, 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.560 on the anniversary of the day Jen and Sarah brought Marcus, Hannah, 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:01.160 and Abigail home to Minnesota, Jen would revisit their first 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:04.520 night as moms in a Facebook post. The post is 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:08.520 accompanied by Jen's profile picture. Jen and Sarah hart cheeked 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:12.760 to cheek, their faces mostly hidden behind big sunglasses. Here's 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.880 what she writes, and bear with us. This is long, 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:17.800 but we want to give you a sense of how 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:22.520 much Jen really shared on Facebook. A different kind of 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:27.480 Mother's Day, March third, two th six, with temperatures in 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.000 the teens and an abundance of snow on the ground. 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:33.000 I wondered what their reaction would be as we paced 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:36.120 back and forth, peering out the front windows while clenching 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.720 our phones in anticipation of their arrival. The three hour 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:43.880 flight from Houston seemed like days. Nearly two years of 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.160 our lives had been dedicated to making this moment a reality, 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:53.280 and then bab parenthood times three. Jen continues the lengthy 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:57.200 post with rumination on their first day as parents. All 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.280 the challenges of a lesbian couple trying to break through 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:04.720 barriers in a rural community in Minnesota just transformed into 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:09.040 a story of hope and triumph. The social worker pulled 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:12.000 up in a silver sedan and out came three little 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:16.080 humans that gifted us with motherhood. My heart pounded with 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.959 pure love and the strength of a million drums as 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:21.280 we embraced and welcomed them to their home for the 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:25.040 first time. To say this was an unforgettable day would 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:28.719 be an enormous understatement. It was unforgettable in all the 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:33.000 ways we weren't expecting. We had no idea what challenges 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:36.840 we would be facing in the coming months years. I 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:38.920 can't even begin to imagine what it would be like 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.560 for a child that had lived their entire life with inconsistency, abuse, 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:47.240 and neglect to be swooped twelve hundred miles away to 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.160 a new place with the promise of this time it 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:54.439 will be different. This is how the first twelve hours 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:58.520 of motherhood was for us. The youngest urinated anywhere but 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.000 the bathroom several times and fell down a flight of stairs, 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:05.280 resulting in a bloody gash on her chin. The middle 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:08.679 child pulled out chunks of hair and smeared feces on 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.720 the wall and gorged herself with food until she started 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:16.160 choking and needed the Heimlich, resulting in episodes of projectile vomiting. 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:20.160 The oldest banged his head repetitively on a rock wall 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:25.400 until we were able to safely restrain him. Blood was involved. 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.280 This was a result of not giving him a king 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:30.360 sized tutsie roll that he requested at nine pm. It 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:32.400 took hours to calm him and get him to a 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:34.680 place where we could leave him in his room to sleep. 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.800 We were physically and mentally obliterated by this time. We 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.880 went to be absolutely terrified as a million thoughts ran 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.960 through our minds. As we drifted off to sleep, we 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.520 were abruptly reminded that our day was far from over. 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:54.200 Loud crashes, banging, and strange sounds slash voices from above 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.760 us resulted in us sprinting upstairs to find the eldest 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:01.040 in a closet. He told us he was possessed by 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.680 demons as he growled, clawed, and spoke in multiple voices 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:07.800 while continuing to thrash, bite, and bang his head on 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:11.320 the wall. My heart was breaking and I was terrified. 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.479 I was terrified for him, and it would be disingenuous 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:17.400 if I didn't admit I was afraid of what he 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:21.280 could do to others as well. Hours passed before we 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.120 were able to get him to sleep. That night, just 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.800 when it seemed like we could breathe again, the youngest 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.360 had an asthma attack and stopped breathing. A one am 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:35.120 e er visit followed. I didn't sleep at all for 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:39.960 the first forty eight plus hours of parenthood. I cried 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:44.640 a lot. What had we done? We had no experience 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:48.840 with these kinds of things. We questioned everything. When the 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:51.360 social worker called to check in after the first night, 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.360 we related everything, the good, the bad, and the ugly. 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:59.920 Her response, just give them whatever they want. We were dumbfounded. 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:05.240 That's it, that's the golden advice. In that moment, I 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.120 knew what to do. We could not give up on 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:12.120 these kids. Before we were matched with these children, they 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:15.400 were going to be separated and adopted into two different families, 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:20.000 with the oldest place in a residential treatment facility. How 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.000 can a child even know what they want when they 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.720 haven't ever been gifted with what they need? If not us, 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:29.880 who at twenty five years old. We didn't have any 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:35.320 parenting experience under our belts, but we had boatloads of love, compassion, intelligence, 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:39.560 and the natural instincts to navigate these wild and uncharted waters. 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:42.880 There was no way on earth we were going to 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:46.600 toss these children back into an incredibly broken and abysmal 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:51.360 foster care system. Here we are, one decade and three 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:55.880 more kids later, ten years ago to day, we became 0:16:55.920 --> 0:17:01.000 mothers and began the grandest adventure of our lives. Through 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:05.000 the spectrum of despair and utter joy, I give thanks 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.359 to all of us who have joined this journey of 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:11.879 the Hearts. Look what love can do. Come assist in 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:30.240 writing the next chapter with us, Love, Love, Love. The 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:34.199 adoption records for Marcus, Hannah, and Abigail are sealed, so 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:36.600 it's hard to fact check Jen's claims of health or 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:40.800 behavioral issues, but there is no evidence that Abigail, the youngest, 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.520 had asthma. We also can't verify whether Marcus was going 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:48.399 to be placed in residential treatment. The sibling Gen was 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.520 referring to here may have been the older brother of 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.439 the Davis Is the second set of siblings adopted by 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.640 the Hearts kids Sarah and Jen hadn't even heard of 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:00.960 back in two thousand six. Maybe Jenn, ten years later, 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.200 was just getting the kids mixed up. There were six 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:05.560 of them, after all. Every mom calls her kids by 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.240 another kid's name at some point. But the night was 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.000 so momentous for her. One can't help but wonder if 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:15.119 she was going for drama over truth. Can you imagine 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:19.960 if your mom posted something like this about you on Facebook? Remember, 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:23.480 at this point, the Hard kids were teenagers. Marcus was seventeen, 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:27.680 Hannah was fourteen, and Abigail was thirteen. Maybe they never 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:30.600 saw their mom's Facebook posts, but if they did, they 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:36.320 would have been old enough to be completely mortified. Janet 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.280 Sarah must have gotten into the groove, because not long 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.520 after they welcomed their first three kids, a picture of 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:46.200 their new family of five appeared on an adoption agency website. 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:50.879 They were smiling, everyone looked happy. This time, Jen and 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.840 Sarah were seeking up to three more kids of any 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:58.359 ethnicity up to eight years old. Two years later, in 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:00.920 the spring of two thousand eight, they took in three 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.879 more foster kids, five year old Davante and his younger siblings, 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:09.480 Jeremiah four and Sierra three. The Davis siblings were also 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:12.120 from Texas, and they'd been removed from their mother's home 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.400 in Houston. According to court records, she was a crack 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:19.439 cocaine abuser and was forbidden contact with the kids. The 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:23.119 records showed that Jeremiah had tested positive for cocaine at birth, 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.320 and the kid's mom had tested positive for cocaine after 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:30.040 Sierra was born. They'd been living with their paternal aunt, 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.520 Priscilla Celestine for five months. She'd moved from a three 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.080 bedroom apartment to a five bedroom place to make room 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.320 for them, but then one day, a CPS worker made 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.840 a spontaneous visit to their aunt's home and found their 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:48.040 mom babysitting. The consequences were swift. Davante, Jeremiah, and Sierra 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:51.400 were removed from their aunt's home and put into foster care. 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:56.960 Shaunda Jones, Celestine's attorney, says Celestine had been called into 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.920 work for an extra shift a needed childcare in a pinch, 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:02.720 She's trying to keep her job, so she scrambled for 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.440 childcare and called their mom, who she says was clean 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:08.560 at the time. Jones met the family ten years ago, 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:12.000 but she still remembers their case. Here's how she described 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.480 it to Lauren. The father's rights were being terminated because 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:19.920 I think he had alcohol problems and the mother had 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:23.440 drug problems, and so that's why their rights were terminated. 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:26.840 Which I don't take issue with that in that instance, 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.680 that was the prudent thing to do. But I always 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:33.520 have taken issue within this case is the harsh manner 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:36.560 in the way that they dealt with Miss Celestin. There 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:40.000 was nothing in her background whatsoever, probably never even had 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.920 as much as a driving ticket um And to this day, 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:46.760 it just seems so strange, like I don't understand what 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:51.760 is the rush. I do think that race is a 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:54.240 part of thing. Absolutely. I think race is playing a part. 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:57.560 You know, when people are sitting in the audience thinking that, okay, well, 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:00.399 why did the judge just rule that way? Would think 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:02.280 If I was trying to adopt a kid and you 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:04.800 had a family member that wanted to adopt them, I 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:07.960 personally would think that's great. Why should I try to 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.600 interfere with the family member's adoption of their own family? Right? 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:13.119 That should kind of like be a clue right there 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:14.760 and there that this is a person you don't think 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:18.600 can operate in the child's best interest. Let's pause here 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:22.600 for a second on that point. Davante, Jeremiah, and Sierra 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:27.280 hen and aunt who wanted them, She really wanted them, 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.399 but instead they were sent to live with Jen and 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.560 Sarah Hart, who were soon to be under investigation for 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:36.760 child abuse. Yes, you heard that right. We'll get into 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:41.240 more on that later, but first we want you to 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:43.480 know a little more about the heart children, who they 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:45.800 really were, as best as we can piece it together 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:49.199 from Jim's Facebook posts and our conversations with people who 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:53.960 knew them. First. There was Marcus, the one with the big, 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:58.359 floppy hair. He loved to read and devoured Twilight in 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:03.639 one sitting. He wanted to change the world one Christmas. 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:07.240 According to his mom, he asked for a world without cancer. 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:11.560 Hannah was the spunky one with a closed mouthed smile. 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:15.359 Her front teeth were missing. Jen's Facebook post described her 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:19.000 as dancing and singing. Once. She told her mom she 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:21.960 couldn't concentrate on subtraction because she had a song stuck 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:25.840 in her head. She must have been a courageous kid, too, 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:28.480 because she would later jump out of her bedroom window 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:32.000 and run to the neighbor's house task for help. Next 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:35.679 up DeVante, whose face you might remember from a photo 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:39.399 that went viral in two thousand fourteen. Davante was the 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:43.560 boy hugging a cop tears streaming down his face. He 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:46.320 was known for wearing a free hug sign wherever he went. 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:51.280 He loved animals and hated Donald Trump. He appeared to 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.240 have a special bond with Jen. He may have gotten 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:58.920 special treatment as a result. Abigail known as Abby, had 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:03.200 big brown eyes and glasses. She loved lime, green, yoga, 0:23:03.520 --> 0:23:07.280 and exploring the wilderness. She had a homemade strawberry shortcake 0:23:07.320 --> 0:23:11.000 on her birthday. All the Hard kids were arrestingly beautiful, 0:23:11.119 --> 0:23:13.760 but when you look at pictures of Abigail's face, you 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:15.600 feel like you can see the elegant woman she might 0:23:15.600 --> 0:23:20.920 have grown up to be. Jeremiah wore glasses too. They 0:23:20.960 --> 0:23:24.960 called him the J Man. He was stoic. A survivor, 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:28.280 Jen said he wasn't expected to live more than a 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:30.480 few days when he was born, what with all the 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:34.439 drugs coursing through his system. Instead, he made it to 0:23:34.520 --> 0:23:38.399 fourteen and last, but not least, there was Sierra. She 0:23:38.520 --> 0:23:42.040 was another animal lover. She adored her kitten, Sebastian and 0:23:42.080 --> 0:23:45.000 pulled him around the house in a cardboard box. In 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:47.960 one of Jen's final Facebook pictures, we see her holding 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:50.800 one of her brother's hands backs to the camera. She's 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:53.080 wearing a bathing suit and her shoulder blades are so 0:23:53.160 --> 0:23:59.000 pronounced they look like little wings. In the past several months, 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:01.919 Justine and I have seen hundreds of pictures of the 0:24:01.960 --> 0:24:05.200 Heart kids, but we only have a handful of recordings 0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:09.399 of their voices. Here's one from two thousand twelve. You 0:24:09.440 --> 0:24:11.959 can hear the kids giggling in the background, and Jen's 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:19.320 voice as she hands Jeremiah and Earthworm. You're ready, Yes, Yes, 0:24:20.440 --> 0:24:29.360 what are you doing? I was excited? Try again? Can 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:37.240 you try not to throw him this time like he's 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:48.440 turning kids? Oh, maybe he loves you up next time? 0:24:48.520 --> 0:24:52.360 On Broken Hearts, Yeah, I see them. They're right over 0:24:52.400 --> 0:24:54.919 his head. I know it doesn't look like it, but 0:24:55.000 --> 0:24:58.919 that bird is really a dove asking us for world peace, 0:25:00.600 --> 0:25:04.560 no wars. When I say that Jen was good, she 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:08.560 was good at the time, we're thinking, Wow, phenomenal parenting. 0:25:08.600 --> 0:25:11.480 You're not exploiting your children. We learned now that there 0:25:11.520 --> 0:25:15.600 was some abuse charges in Minnesota there fleeing to Oregon, 0:25:15.760 --> 0:25:17.800 so there's probably more of a reason why she didn't 0:25:17.800 --> 0:25:21.760 want to go on national TV. Have you seen John's Facebook? 0:25:22.960 --> 0:25:32.280 Jen loves Sarah to an insane degree. Broken Hearts is 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:35.399 a joint production between Glamour and How Stuff Works, with 0:25:35.520 --> 0:25:40.280 new episodes dropping every Tuesday. Broken Hearts is co hosted 0:25:40.320 --> 0:25:43.679 and co written by Justine Harman and Elizabeth Egan and 0:25:43.880 --> 0:25:47.920 edited by Wendy Knockle. Lauren Smiley is our field reporter, 0:25:48.560 --> 0:25:52.679 Samantha Barry is Glamour's editor in chief, Julie Shen and 0:25:52.760 --> 0:25:55.720 Dianna Buckman head up the business side of this partnership. 0:25:56.440 --> 0:26:01.560 Joyce Pandola, Pat Singer and Luke Zeleski are a research team. 0:26:01.680 --> 0:26:05.120 Jason Hoke is executive producer on behalf of How Stuff Works, 0:26:05.440 --> 0:26:09.320 along with producers Julian Weller, ben Kiebrick, and Josh Thaine. 0:26:09.960 --> 0:26:13.879 Special thanks to Jen Lance. Have questions for us about 0:26:13.880 --> 0:26:18.000 this podcast, reach us on Twitter at Glamour mag for 0:26:18.080 --> 0:26:22.240