Sunday, March 14,
1999 By
Carla Crowder
News Staff Writer
BRUSH -- David and
Marie Reeder worried about the little girl long
before police and child-welfare workers knocked
on the door at 520 Carson St. in Brush.
The couple had spent six months and $20,000
trying to persuade Arapahoe County to let them
adopt the girl.
She's not safe at the home on Carson Street,
they had told Judge Kenneth Stuart and the army
of social workers bent on placing the child with
the Brush family.
The Reeders lost the court fight and the
little girl who had been their foster daughter in
1996.
Last week they got a jolting update on her
life since then.
Now 3, the girl and her siblings were hustled
out of their adoptive home in Brush amid
allegations of abuse. The four children were
gaunt, bloated with malnutrition and shaking. The
oldest boy, 9, had to be hospitalized for more
than a week.
Three of the four told police of being beaten
with boards, locked in a basement without food
and doused with cold water as punishment.
The adoptive parents, Roberto
"Butch" Acosta, 48, and Shirley Carroll
Acosta, 45, face felony child-abuse charges in
Morgan County.
"It was known long ago that they
shouldn't have been placed there," Marie
Reeder said. "This is our worst nightmare of
what would happen."
The Reeders' story is one of a frustrating
battle with social workers and county
bureaucracies. These agencies have complete
control over the most fragile lives -- babies
born with cocaine and alcohol running through
their veins, abused and abandoned kids, disabled
foster children.
The Reeders live in rural El Paso County. He's
a phone-systems manager for Lucent Technologies.
She home-schools their five children, including
an adopted son.
In 1995 they were licensed foster parents
living in Douglas County. An infant girl born to
a drug-addicted mother needed a foster home.
"We got her when she was 24 hours
old," Marie Reeder said. "We've got her
baby pictures, her tag that was on her at
University Hospital."
The baby had three siblings -- a sister just
under a year old, a brother 2 years old and a
brother 10 or 11. He was living in a group home
in Brush.
Social workers placed the 1-year-old sister
and 2-year-old brother with the Acostas in Brush,
partly so they would be close to the oldest boy.
He never lived with the Acostas.
The Acostas initially took the 1-year-old and
2-year-old in as foster children. But their
mother's condition deteriorated and she ran into
trouble with the law and made little effort to
get her children back, according to court
records. The Acostas adopted them. They joined
another adopted son, who is now 9. He suffered
the worst abuse, police say.
The Arapahoe County Department of Social
Services was the main agency overseeing the
children because their birth mother lived in
Arapahoe County.
Meanwhile, the youngest girl learned to walk
and talk in the Reeders' home. They made a
videotape of her first birthday party and planned
to adopt her as soon as Arapahoe County cut off
ties with the birth mother.
Social workers occasionally took the baby to
visit her siblings at the Acostas' home.
The Reeders worried about whether she was safe
there.
Once, "she came home so sick our
pediatrician wanted to put her in the
hospital," Marie Reeder said.
Repeatedly, the baby was returned dehydrated
and with severe diaper rash, they said.
The little girl was ready to be adopted in
mid-1996. Both families wanted her. Arapahoe
County Social Services decided to place her with
the Acostas.
"We never understood why they pushed the
Acostas so hard, why they wanted them to adopt
all these kids," Marie Reeder said.
"Arapahoe County said, 'We're just so proud
of what the Acostas have done."'
The Reeders went to court.
A cardboard box filled with records of the
court battle is locked in the shed outside their
home. It includes records of an investigation
into both homes conducted by Denver psychologist
Carol Marfut.
Marfut repeatedly described incidents in which
Carroll Acosta used bad judgment and poor
parenting skills.
The psychologist doubted that Carroll Acosta
could handle the adoptive children without help
from her older biological children.
Another psychologist recommended that the
Acostas adopt the little girl.
According to court records, social workers
preferred the Acostas for two reasons: The
child's brother and sister were there, and
experts consider it better for foster children
and adopted children to stay with their siblings.
Also, the children are black, and social
workers wanted a "culturally diverse"
setting.
The Acostas were considered more
"multiracial" because she is American
Indian and he is Hispanic.
Marie Reeder is half-Hispanic, as is their
adopted son. David Reeder is Anglo, and all their
biological children are fair-skinned.
In court, the Reeders argued that the little
girl would get a better education and have
greater cultural opportunities with them. Their
children are skilled with computers and active in
clubs and hobbies, they said.
But the judge decided to place the girl with
the Acostas. The decision was a victory for
Arapahoe County. At the time.
"Whatever their agenda was, they made a
decision early on with very little
investigation," David Reeder said. "All
those people who didn't believe us along the way,
I hope they are feeling bad now."
The Reeders say the Acostas were paid monthly
subsidies to take care of the adopted children.
Subsidized adoption is common, with parents
typically getting $350 a month per child, more if
the child is disabled.
Arapahoe County Social Services director Brian
Field has refused to discuss the case, citing
confidentiality rules designed to protect
children. The Acostas also have declined to
comment.
The Reeders say they would love to get this
little girl back.
They've called Morgan County Social Services,
which took custody of all four of the Acostas'
adopted children after the arrest. Once again,
confidentiality laws forbid officials there from
giving any information about the children.
"She was our daughter. She was our
daughter. We could be the chance for her to be
restored to a normal life," Marie Reeder
said.
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