Jessica Beagley, 36, sought help from the Dr. Phil show last November, stating that she was having trouble disciplining her 7-year-old son. The taped segment for the Dr. Phil show showed scenes of Beagley forcing her son to drink hot sauce for lying and cold showers when she's "at the end of [her] rope." Beagley also admits to spanking her son and making him do jumping jacks until he was exhausted.
According to Yevgeniy Khorishko, the Russian Embassy's press officer, the Russian government is not thrilled with this latest incidence of a Russian child being abused in an American home. Since 1992, 17 Russian children have been murdered in American adoptive homes. Russia and the United States have been working on a bilateral adoption agreement for the past year, and the situation came to a head when a Tennessee woman put her Russian child on a plane back to Russia with only a note pinned to his jacket that she could not handle his behaviors.
According to recent news reports,� officials from the Russian Consulate in Seattle visited the Beagley home in January. Child Protective Services have also investigated the family and found no evidence of abuse of the other children. The Russian children remain in the home pending the results of the case. The Russian government are said to be closely watching this situation.� It should also be noted that Beagley is going through counseling for herself and with her sons.
Beagley was found guilty of one count of misdemeanor child abuse and will be sentenced Monday. She could face up to a year in prison. The Alaskan family has six children, four biological and the twin sons they adopted from Russia two years ago. Beagley and her husband, a police officer, sought help from the popular talk show host in an effort to help their son.
You know, I do feel badly for this whole family - obviously they were thrown into the deep end of adoptive parenting with little to no support. Trying to find resources is extremely difficult post adoption. I'm not condoning the treatment of this child, absolutely not! But when one has to go to a TV show for support - something is missing in the services offered to adoptive families. Other adoptive families of Russian children have been at their wits end with behaviors as well. Remember the Mulligan family?
Adoptive parenting is not for everyone and some of our children need a lot of services in order to "fit" into traditional family life. Do not go the international adoption route thinking you will be skipping out on messy birth family connections or the baggage of American foster children. The baggage of internationally adopted children is the same, but with an added cultural and language barrier.
SOURCES:
Alaska's Hot Sauce Mom Found Guilty of Child Abuse
Russians Outraged Over 'Hot Sauce Mom'
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