Scandal of private 're-homing' for children: Texas
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Scandal of private 're-homing' for children: Texas girl tells how her new 'mom' slept naked with her when she was just 13 after she was traded online by her adoptive parents
- Russian orphan Anna Barnes came to the U.S. when she was 7-years-old
- Her adoptive parents found they couldn't handle her and found a new couple - Gary and Lisa Barnes - to take her in when she was 11
- But soon the Barnes couldn't handle her and they sought out a new family for the teen
- When she was 13-years-old they sent her to live with Nicole and Calvin Eason
- On her first night with the couple she was asked to sleep in the same bed as her new mom who was naked at the time
- Anna was eventually taken back by the Barnes after they learned that the Eason's forged a 'home study' document
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On her first night living with her new 'mom', 13-year-old Anna Barnes was asked to sleep in her bed.
She found the request weird, and even more so considering the woman was naked.
Anna had been sent to live with Nicole Eason and her husband Calvin at their mobile home in Westville, Illinois after her second set of adoptive parents found they could not longer care for her.
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Passed around: Russian orphan Anna Barnes moved to the U.S. when she was 7, but her first set of adoptive parents gave her up to a new couple when she was 11 - Gary and Lisa Barnes
Anna's story came to light in a recent investigation by Reuters and NBC News into the process of 'private re-homing'.
It turns out that it is quite easy to pass custody of an unwanted child onto other people - and it's been happening a lot with foreign adoptees.
Their investigation found groups on websites like Yahoo and Facebook where adoptive parents advertised their children to be placed in new homes.
Since no money is exchanged, most of these people are performing legal transactions not deemed human trafficking.
'This is a bad analogy, but it's sort of like selling a used car,' Gary Barnes told NBC News . 'If you tell someone it breaks down everyday, nobody's going to buy it.
Gave her up: Gary and Lisa Barnes took in Anna when she was 11-years-old, but two years alter they were desperate to get rid of the troubled teen who started to get violent towards her adoptive mother
Gary and his wife Lisa took in Anna, an orphan from Russia, after her initial American parents gave her up.
11-years-old by the time that the Barnes took her in, Anna had deep-seeded issues they found impossible to resolve.
Anna was diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. She mouthed off at school and even got violent towards Lisa.
Eventually, the couple decided they were not the parents for the job and started looking for a willing couple to take Anna in.
They met Nicole Eason on a Yahoo group dedicated to re-homing.
Taker: The Barnes met Nicole Eason on Yahoo group for child re-homing. She offered to take Anna in and even had a home study test to prove her parenting skills
Through conversations online, Nicole said she would love Anna 'no matter what mistakes she makes in life' and even promised to get the girl a puppy and buy her favorite candy bars.
The Barnes were comfortable transferring custody to the Easons when Nicole showed them a home study by a social worked that proved she had the proper parenting skills.
Nicole and her husband flew down to Texas in September 2008 and the whole transaction was finalized over dinner at a local chain restaurant.
But after having met the Easons, Anna didn't want to go. She says they made her nervous.
'I couldn't stop (crying)...I just kept telling them, "Please don't send me to them. Please I'm begging you. I will get down on my knees,"' she said.
But the Barnes drove off and left Anna to go live with the Easons in Illinois.
Her new home was in a mobile park in a small trailer filthy with dog urine and feces.
New home: Anna arrived at her new home and found it riddled with feces and urine. Above, a picture of the Eason's last known residence in Tucson, Arizona
Destroyed: A picture taken on August 23 shows what the couple left behind when they vacated their Tucson trailer
Left behind: The Eason's property manager says he found five dogs left behind in the trailer after the Eason's left
On her first night there, Anna remembers her new mom asking her to pick out a movie to watch from the couple's collection where she found pornography.
That night she was told to come and sleep with Nicole in bed and found that her adoptive mom was naked. She says she felt her kissing her throughout the night
On a following night she was again asked to join the couple in bed, this time to sleep between them, but Anna eventually refused.
'I was sandwiched in there, and I stayed there for about a total of 2 minutes, 47 seconds, and decided that it was getting weird,' she said.
According to the investigation, Nicole Eason took in re-homed children six times. Above, Nicole and Calvin pose with Quita Puchalla, a Liberian teenager they took in before she was taken away from them and sent back to her original adoptive parents
After that she went and slept on the couch.
Thankfully, Anna's time with the Easons was short lived.
A few days later, when she was at her new school she saw a familiar face in the hallway - that of Gary Barnes, the dad who had given her up.
One of Nicole's former friends called the Barnes and told them she believed the Eason's home study was a fake - and it was.
She also told them that at least one of the children they got through re-homing was taken away from them and that she feared for Anna's safety.
Pedophile: Nicole Eason had taken in children with Randy Winslow who is currently serving a 20-year-sentence for sending and receiving child pornography
He flew all the way up to Illinois to bring her back to Texas.
Back home, The Barnes filed a complaint against the Easons through the Texas Attorney General's office but so far authorities in Illinois and Texas have taken no steps to prevent the Easons from continuing to adopt. According to the investigation, the Easons have taken in children through re-homing six times.
Though Anna was filmed by NBC News at the Barnes' ranch in Texas, she says she stays with friends and is looking for a place to live.
She recently turned 18 and was accepted to Texas Tech University, though she doesn't think she'll be able to afford it.
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