Special Needs Siblings Wore Pajamas With Jointed Leg, Ate Once A Day; Adoptive Mom Jailed

A Nebraska mother was sentenced to jail for child abuse after the court found her guilty of locking two children in a bedroom and feeding them only once a day.

Angel Henderson, 44, was sentenced to 5-10 years in prison Friday after she was found guilty of two counts of felony child abuse by a jury in November, reported news outlet Sioux City Journal.

Henderson and her husband Patrick were arrested in January 2019 for locking up two young children they had adopted. The investigation began after the police found one of the children, a 14 -year-old boy, who ran away from the couple’s home.

The teen told the investigators that he, along with his 9-year-old sibling, was forced to wear pajamas with legs sewn together to restrict their movements. They were only released from their bedroom for using the bathroom and were fed just once a day.

The investigators were told that the bedroom was alarmed to prevent them from escaping. The children were homeschooled and the teen said that if they tried to leave the bedroom, Handerson would choke them, kick them or hit them, reported news outlet Sioux Land News. The 9-year-old victim also suffered similar abuses from Handerson.

Handerson told the court that both the children had behavioral issues and the pajamas were for “swaddling” them to help them calm down.

There were two other adopted children aged 6 and 13 at Handerson’s home but they were not mistreated. All four children were removed from the home and placed into the custody of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

Henderson told the court Friday that they had adopted the two special needs children out of love. “We found out you can't love away the trauma, and they had a lot of trauma,” Henderson told.

Judge Bryan Meismer, however, told her they added more trauma to the kids’ lives. “The fact these children came from horrible backgrounds makes what happened to them worse,” Meismer said.

Handerson told the court that her husband had “checked out” leaving much of the child-rearing to her. She claimed that she had researched and sort advice on ways to control the children who had behavioral issues like biting, spitting and throwing things.

“I did what I could. Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Handerson said. “If I could change things, I definitely would, but I can't,” she added.

Handerson faced 50 years on each count of abuse but the judge reduced the sentence on the fact that she did not have any prior criminal record.