Child abuse and endangerment charges have been made against a foster mother from Missouri. Authorities are investigating whether the 70-year-old traded her adoptive daughter to people in Texas for a monkey. Officials are also looking into whether the woman abused other children who were placed in her care. The woman resides in Winfield and is in jail with a $250,000 bond. She has been incarcerated since her arrest over the weekend. She is scheduled to stand before a judge on Tuesday.
Woman May Have Abused More Children
The woman is not being identified publicly in an attempt to protect the privacy of the child. According to a local news outlet, KSNT online records show that the woman does not currently have an attorney. It is also unclear if a monkey was found at the woman’s residence.
On Wednesday, Mike Wood, the Lincoln County prosecutor, shared that the woman had been a foster or adoptive parent to at least 200 children in well over a decade. He added that officials have received information that those children were victims of emotional and physical abuse.
Girl Allegedly Traded For Monkey
The girl in the center of this case has informed authorities that the woman had beaten her with a wooden trim, a paddle, and shoes. In a written statement, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office wrote that the girl had attempted to tell people what was taking place inside her home, but no one believed her.
The issue was brought to the authorities’ attention back in February when a Missouri school resource officer reached out because the girl had missed so many classes. The deputy who investigated the school truancy was then told about the allegation that the woman had traded the girl to someone in Texas for a monkey. The deputy took steps to find out if the monkey trading allegation had taken place.
Abuse Discovered After Welfare Check
Texas authorities were contacted by the deputy and asked to make a child welfare check on the girl. Officials from the child welfare office then took the girl into custody. She has been placed in a group home where officials say she is doing well.
According to Wood, the suspect and the individual the child was staying with in Texas knew each other through their ownership of exotic animals. Two witnesses have come forward during the investigation who told authorities they were asked to drive the girl to Texas and return with a monkey. They did drive the girl to Texas, but it has not been confirmed that they returned with a monkey.
Wood added that officials are now trying to determine if the accusation is true or if it is simply a joke. “There’s some smoke there. We just got to find out if there’s fire, and it’ll take us some time. But there are at least two witnesses who are coming forward saying that that was the case. As crazy as it sounds, we’ve had a few human trafficking cases in the past, so we’re treating it seriously,” Wood said.
Sexual Abuse May Have Happened
Reportedly, the woman in Texas that the girl was staying with left her alone for days at a time to go out of town to care for exotic animals. The woman reportedly had access to different exotic animals, including the monkey in question. It is unclear what species of monkey was involved in this tragic situation. During her time there, the girl told authorities that she suffered sexual abuse and was forced to do manual labor.
The person from Texas, who has been identified as a woman, says that she was friends with the girl’s adoptive mother and that she took the girl in to give her friend “a break.” The girl resided with the woman for more than a month. The Texas woman added that she no longer wanted the girl to stay with her, but the girl’s adoptive mother refused to make any plans to get the girl. The charging documents related to the case called the girls’ living situation inadequate and unsanitary. A Facebook post was made by the prosecutor’s office that said charges were expected.
Calls To Child Abuse Hotline Ignored
During the investigation, Wood says his office discovered that there had been over 250 calls to a hotline for child abuse about the adoptive mother over 15 years, but there had not been a single criminal complaint made. He added that despite the Missouri Department of Social Services’ Children’s Division receiving a tip in November that the girl was being abused, the child was not removed from the home.
“On its face, it just seems like there was a systemic failure somewhere, and we’re looking into it to see if that is the case, how it can be addressed, and to the extent that there’s any criminal behavior associated with it, we will look into that as well,” Wood said.
