I always thought that was understood.
Maybe not so in Arkansas.
Yesterday we introduced you to the honorable Justin Harris, a proud Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, who kinda-sorta hid from the public the fact that he’d adopted two little girls out of foster care, tired of them after a year in his home, and given them to another family to raise. The other family wasn’t so great, seeing as how the new adoptive father, Eric Francis, raped the older of the girls, all of six years old. Francis had also briefly taught at the Christian daycare owned by Harris and his wife, “Growing God’s Kingdom Preschool,” and when the news of the sexual assault broke last year, that was the only connection Harris admitted publicly; the Arkansas Times broke the full story this week. It’s a horrible story, and the more we find out about Rep. Harris, the more charming he seems.
Growing God’s Kingdom Preschool, indeed! That's a hell of a way to "grow a child," enlarge the experiences of an innocent child!
Harris "holds degrees in Human and Child Development and Human Environmental Science from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He is a member of the Arkansas and the Southern Early Childhood Education associations." I just got to wonder about Arkansas standards.
Previous to being an owner of the wonderful Growing God’s Kingdom Preschool, Arkansas State Representative Justin Harris was director of the Living Faith Preschool.
Also, from Wikipedia:
Harris also supported related pro-life legislation to outlaw abortion whenever fetal heartbeat is detected, to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange, and to make the death of an unborn child a felony in certain cases.
Apparently, according to Harris, one can't commit a felony with a child who is not "unborn".
Very curious morality.
Furthermore, Harris and his wife insisted upon adopting the little girl over the objections of the girl's previous foster parents:
An experienced foster family that housed the two younger girls for a year and a half prior to their adoption by the Harrises has approached the Times with their story. Craig and Cheryl Hart say, among other things, the adoption was allowed to proceed over the objections of the foster parents and local DHS staff only because the head of the the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Cecile Blucker, exerted pressure on behalf of Justin Harris. DCFS is the arm of DHS responsible for child welfare.
The Harts also say the middle sister — who would have been 4 years old at the time she entered the Harris home in 2012 — was not violent or dangerous. They claim the Harrises were warned repeatedly by themselves and local DHS staff that their home was not a suitable placement for the two girls or their older sister.
The third sister, who would have been about 6 when she entered the Harris home, was fostered at a different household that provided specialized therapeutic care for troubled children. The Harts had some contact with her as well, since DHS would sometimes arrange for the siblings to visit one another. Harris said on Friday the third girl threatened to kill his entire family.
Well, with a wonderful, "loving", Christian family to enfold the little girl, who could possibly object?
As Wonkette has noted, the ICK factor in this story is huge.