Latham Adoptees
Victims of Attachment Therapy
Columbus, Georgia
Rescued in 2005 at ages 5, 8, 9, and 10
Note: The following account has been prepared from press reports, personal interviews, trial transcripts, and other public records.
Evan and Kirstine Latham adopted four Hispanic children only to subject them to an unsanitary environment, starvation and abuse. The children kept out of school and were only allowed to use the bathroom one time each day, and the bathtub was unused for months.
Evan and Kirstine were arrested on 8 December 2005. They plead guilty to four counts of first-degree cruelty to children and were respectively sentenced to ten and eight years in prison.
It was reported that a “mental health professional” recommended that the parents reverse the door knobs of the children’s bedrooms so they couldn’t get out on their own. The windows were also blinded.
The children had been diagnosed with “Reactive Attachment Disorder.” Mental health professionals who examined the children after being rescued did not diagnosed the children in any disorders.
Webography
- “Couple gets jail for child cruelty,” by Alan Riquelmy, Ledger-Inquirer, 18 Dec 2007.