- 3 months ago
- #candacenewmaker
- #therapygonewrong
- #petscop
Candace Newmaker was a 10 year old little girl, adopted by Jeane Newmaker. She underwent an experimental therapy to try to "cure" her disorder.
#CandaceNewmaker #therapygonewrong #petscop
#CandaceNewmaker #therapygonewrong #petscop
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LearningTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to the Dark Mystery Lounge. Today we will take a look at the
00:04Candace Newmaker case. This case is all about therapy gone wrong. This could have
00:09been prevented with the right kind of therapy. Also we will take a look at the
00:13condition this little girl suffered from and other children that have suffered
00:17with it too. Let's go ahead and take a look, shall we?
00:22Candace Tiara Elmore was born on November 19, 1989 in Lincoln County, North Carolina.
00:31She was a nine-pound baby. Her birth parents were Todd and Angela Elmore. Candace was the oldest of
00:37three children. She was always very loving and protective of her mother. Angie was very loving
00:42towards her children but had a very low education and did her best to try to provide for her kids.
00:49Todd on the other hand was very abusive not only to his wife but to his kids as well. Candace got
00:55in between her parents when they would fight. She would do anything for her mother. Angie was never
01:00in love with Todd but married him to get away from her parents. She tried working all sorts of low-wage
01:06jobs but nothing ever stuck. It didn't help that Todd would try to keep Angie from working even when
01:12he himself couldn't find any employment. They would often pawn off items just to keep the bills paid
01:18and food on the table. They moved constantly and they weren't perfect parents but they always kept
01:23the kids clean, fed, and a roof over their heads. In 1992, Angie packed the kids up and ran away from
01:30her husband. Staying in a battered women's shelter, that's where Candace had to celebrate her third
01:36birthday. She was always very loving but a tough child. There wasn't much that could shake her. She loved
01:42spending time with her grandparents, David and Mary Davis. In fact, David, or Paw Paw as Candace
01:48affectionately called him, is the one who chose her middle name Tiara. He loved reading stories to her.
01:54Her favorite one was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Once he jokingly changed the story saying,
02:00he sent one of the bears to 7-Eleven for a Coca-Cola but Candace would have none of it. No Paw Paw, tell it right,
02:08she warned him. David would even buy the family groceries and help out any way he could.
02:13Her mother Angela, or Angie, was a foster child herself. She is what's called a Willie M child.
02:20After the famous class action lawsuit back in 1980, Willie M was a teenage plaintiff in a 1980 class
02:27action lawsuit against the state's mental health system. A federal judge ordered North Carolina to
02:33take better care of children whose violence was related to mental illness. But with Angie, to her,
02:39she felt like she was just a paycheck for her foster family. When she turned 18, they kicked her out,
02:45living on the street. Her mother, too, was a foster child as well, so it seems the cycle was repeating itself.
02:52But Angie didn't know at first because of her mental illness, which was never mentioned, that social services
02:58were keeping a close eye on her movements. When Angie found out social workers were investigating,
03:03she and Todd moved from the county. Authorities tracked them down months later. The family said
03:09they had to wrench Candace and her younger sister from Angie as they clutched to their mother. All three
03:14children were placed into foster care. Angie got another chance when social services returned Candace.
03:20During one counseling session, according to Angie, Candace latched on and said,
03:25please, Mama, don't let them take me away. I promised her no. Then they took her again.
03:30Angie and Mary blamed the second time on a typical explosive fight between the two of them.
03:35Mary took off in her car, leaving Angie stranded, unable to pick up Candace at the Head Start preschool.
03:42Angie had no phone. Mary remembers telling the social worker who finally called her to keep Candace
03:48overnight until things simmered down. Court hearings followed and at age five. At age five,
03:54Candace was on the path traveled by her mother and grandmother. She became a ward of the county.
03:59Candace didn't adjust well. Social workers and judges talked about her crying bits and her temper.
04:05One foster mother claimed that Candace had caused her to have an asthma attack. Six years after Angie
04:11aged out of the Willie M program, she appeared before a judge to try and get Candace and Chelsea and
04:18Michael back. She was 24. As the judge looked over Candace's files, he saw the caseworker's notes.
04:25Candace had too many angry outbursts, was too rebellious in foster care. Like mother, like daughter.
04:31Another Willie M, said the judge. She insisted that Candace was a good girl when she lived with her.
04:36She was another flaw in the system to them. She was a system child to them. And I know what it feels like.
04:42I know what she's going through. David and Mary considered taking the children, but with his
04:47elderly mother to take care of and three children under the age of six, they felt like they couldn't
04:52give adequate attention. David recited a checklist that went through his mind. Adoptive parents undergo
04:59rigorous criminal background checks. They desperately want these children. They have more money to provide
05:04for them. I've beaten myself up over it as the years go by, he said. But I told myself they could have
05:11a better life.
05:20Jean Elizabeth Newmaker came from a privileged background. Born in Warren, Pennsylvania in 1953,
05:26to John and Dorothy Newmaker, the youngest of three children. Jean's grandfather, Floyd Henry
05:32Newmaker, was a pioneer in the furniture business, an industry which is still the pride of Warren.
05:38Jean's uncle Ben was killed in a sports car crash in 1956. And John, Ben's brother, had to identify his
05:45body, which affected him deeply and he started drinking. But this didn't seem to affect Jean that
05:51much. She never got in any trouble. She kept herself busy with student council, French club, Latin club, ski
05:57club, and class plays. People who knew her described Jean as serious, but pleasantly social. She graduated with
06:04honors in 1971 from Warren High School. After high school, Jean went to college at University of
06:10Rochester in New York, graduating in 1975. She earned a master's degree in nursing from University of
06:17Virginia in 1980. While Jean was training to be a nurse, her father was getting DUIs. After the second
06:24arrest in 1980, a judge ordered him into rehabilitation. During his stay in the psychiatric hospital, he first
06:32crossed paths with Fanny Cotillion, the woman he would divorce his wife to marry. Jean was 28 when
06:37her parents divorced. As far as Fanny Cotillion Newmaker was concerned, Jean was the most responsible
06:44of the three daughters. It was Jean who returned home briefly to Warren to take care of her cancer
06:50stricken mother, Dorothy, who died in 1986. John died of lung disease a year later. Since the early 80s,
06:57Jean was working as a nurse practitioner at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.
07:03She cares for children specializing in pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition. She lived in a
07:09two-story brick home in Durham paid for with the money from her grandfather's trust, according to
07:14neighbors. The five-bedroom home is perched on a fence corner lot in Hillendale, a golf course neighborhood
07:22with large leafy yards where modest ranch houses mingle with sprawling elegant colonials. It sat empty.
07:29Jean wanted to fill that large home with the laughter of a child.
07:35Candace Tiara Elmore became Candace Elizabeth Newmaker in Durham, North Carolina on June 14, 1996,
07:44at the age of six. She even got a brand new birth certificate with her new mother's name and listed
07:50Durham as her birthplace. Candace went from living in trailer parks to suddenly having a life of
07:56privilege. Jean rechristened her daughter with her own middle name, establishing a new family tie. This
08:03adoption process took more than a year to finalize, but here she is. In a brand new environment, Jean bought
08:09Candace a new pink bicycle as an adoption day present. She even took off two months from her
08:14job just to help her new daughter adjust. She became, in a way, a supermom. Her tireless devotion
08:21to Candace impressed the parents of children in Candace's new circle of friends. There was nothing that
08:26child did not have, said neighbor Margaret Addison. There was nothing that child did not do. Candace was
08:33enrolled in Easley Elementary, one of the top public schools in the county, and she paid extra for the
08:39privilege. Teachers fell in love with this tiny, quirky, bright-eyed student. Candace was wary and
08:45withdrawn her first days there. She snapped at children in before and after school care. Don't
08:51look at me. Don't talk to me. Leave me alone, she told them. Ray Alban taught Candace in first grade,
08:58not long after the adoption. On the first day of school, he heard a scared voice outside. It was Candace.
09:04She didn't want to come inside his classroom. There's a boy in there. I don't like boys, Candace was
09:10saying. Then he heard Jean. That's not a boy, that's a man, and he's your teacher. Candace wasn't his
09:16most gifted student, but Alban quickly became fond of her. She wasn't a behavioral problem at all, he said.
09:23He credits Jean for her progress, citing her involvement with Candace and with the school. Smaller children,
09:29special education children, and disabled kids in wheelchairs drew Candace's attention. She would
09:35help them to their class. She also loved animals, especially horses. She would draw lots of pictures
09:41and read books about them, so Jean enrolled her in equestrian classes in second grade. Candace loved
09:47animals, and Jean welcomed any stray dogs or cats. To neighbors and school acquaintances, Candace was growing
09:54more and more secure. She had a base of best girlfriends, and they went skating together and
10:00giggled at slumber parties. Once Candace was a student of the week, she designed a poster about
10:06her life. In this spot for her family, she wrote about Chelsea and Michael, her little sister and brother
10:12left behind. Her classmates taunted her. She was adopted. She had no sister and brother. Candace insisted that
10:18she did, and she brought in pictures to prove it. Jean and Candace attended mass at Immaculate
10:24Conception Catholic Church. She was christened and attended catechism classes every Sunday morning,
10:30even having her first Holy Communion at the age of seven. It seemed like Candace was adjusting quite
10:36well to her new life, riding around her neighborhood on her bike, talking to the neighbors, even helping a
10:42younger girl. Victoria, across the street, improve on her reading, and this little girl improved a lot.
10:48But pink bikes, cool toys, and new friends couldn't erase memories of a painful past, of her young
10:55mother long gone, of a brother and sister. Candace confided all of this one day to Victoria. She said,
11:02You're lucky you're with your family, Addison said, recalling the conversation between the two girls.
11:08She said, Your mama loves you. Victoria didn't understand. So Candace explained that she was adopted.
11:14What's that? Victoria asked. That means Jean is my mom now, because she wanted me. I came from my new
11:21mama's heart, Candace said. See, Candace explained, sometimes mamas don't want their children.
11:32Inside this big house, Jean was having trouble with Candace. According to Jean,
11:37Candace was having tantrums and just being a handful. She didn't know what to do. So she sought out
11:43professional help. She enrolled Candace with a Duke pediatrician who studied children with
11:49attention deficit disorder. Candace's doctor talked with her teachers, and she learned that Candace tried
11:55hard in class and was truly invested in herself. Yes, she was stingy with affection. There was a frostiness
12:02about her. But her doctors saw that as her defense mechanism for being through so many placements.
12:07Jean investigated other therapeutic options and treatments. She took Candace to traditional
12:13therapists and consulted with experts in depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Candace saw two
12:20other Duke doctors, at least one other mental health professional. She was given an assortment of
12:27mood-altering drugs. An antidepressant, an antipsychotic to calm her, and an amphetamine to combat the
12:33attention deficit disorder. But the cocktail of medications and therapies weren't working.
12:38Soon she discovered in adoption and foster families there was a new buzzword, attachment disorder.
12:44It's basically described as a child's inability to attach to their new parents. Well-meaning
12:50adoptive parents find themselves living with a volatile, even vicious, children. And just loving
12:56them wasn't enough to cure their problem. Jean attended an attachment disorder workshop held in
13:01North Carolina. She heard symptoms discussed that sounded identical to Candace's. Her research led her
13:07to the internet, where she found a website for a group called ATTACH, the Association for Treatment
13:17and Training in the Attachment of Children. Jean attended an attached national conference in Alexandria,
13:24Virginia in 1999. There she met therapist Bill Goebel, who had her fill out an inventory sheet of
13:31Candace's behavior. Goebel would say later that Jean had already concluded that Candace suffered from
13:38attachment disorder. Although he never met Candace, Goebel determined her case fairly severe. He suggested
13:44Connell Watkins in Colorado. Connell Watkins is an unlicensed psychotherapist in Evergreen,
13:51and her mentor, Dr. Foster Klein, are Colorado's pioneers in attachment disorder. Jean believed she
13:58finally had found an answer to her prayers. On January 20th, she signed a contract with Connell
14:03Watkins, agreeing to pay $7,000 for a two-week rebirthing therapy. They would stay in a private
14:10home rather than a hotel. I guess she felt a sense of relief in hoping that these people would be able
14:16to cure her child. Therapy started on April 10th, when Candace met Dr. John Alston, a psychiatrist in
14:22private practice who also worked with the attachment center at Evergreen, one of the best known attachment
14:28treatment clinics in the country. Her medication was changed many times during the two weeks that they
14:34were there. Jean took her off Dexedrine before they arrived. Austin stopped her Effexor, but Candace's
14:41dosage of Resperdal, a calming medication, was doubled, but apparently she was put back on Effexor
14:47the day before she died because none of the therapy was working. Now Candace had a pair of therapeutic
14:52foster parents, Britta St. Clair and Jack McDaniel, whom Candace was told to call Daddy Jack. Jack also
14:59was not a licensed therapist and Britta was the office manager. There was also Julie Ponder,
15:05a therapist from California. Now a week into this therapy, Jean and Candace were led through
15:10what's called compression therapy, a breakthrough. Candace, wrapped in a sheet but with her head
15:16exposed, was directed to lie down on the floor. Two cushions from a nearby couch were placed on either
15:22side of her. Then Jean lay across the cushions and Candace, making a cross with their bodies. The goal
15:28was control and for Candace to become compliant and for Jean to be in charge. As Candace was wrapped
15:34after the three-hour session, Jean moved to a chair. The therapist told Candace to crawl to the chair,
15:41to lie in her mother's arms like an infant, and let her mother feed her from a plate. Candace did what
15:46she was told. She looked into Jean's eyes and let her mother hold her. Jean was so happy she began
15:53sobbing uncontrollably. Jean was probably thinking, this is really going to work.
16:05It is 9.35 a.m. on Tuesday, April 18th. Candace is in a first floor room at Watkins' home in
16:12Evergreen with the therapist, Julie Ponder. The videotape is rolling as Ponder tells Candace
16:18what is about to take place. Ponder notices that Candace is yawning repeatedly. Candace says she
16:23had a nightmare again last night, the one in which she was being murdered. She has a vague
16:28memory about her birth mother, maybe when she was a very little girl. Candace says her mama dropped her
16:34from a two-story window. Ponder reassured her, telling Candace that her new mom loves her.
16:39Do you want to be reborn to your new mom? Ponder asks. Candace says she does, as she wants to be
16:44safe and not to fall out of the window. Ponder tells her about being reborn. Being a baby is hard.
16:50Being born is hard, she says. You must scream and cry, because that's how a baby does it. Then you
16:57must look for your mother. Reach for her out of the womb. You will have lots of air to breathe,
17:02she says. Jean Newmaker and Jack McDaniel enter the room. Frida Sinclair pushes Tammy, her wheelchair-bound
17:08adult foster daughter into the room. Tammy, who is mentally and physically handicapped, is placed
17:14in the corner. No one says why. Watkins sits at Candace's feet. Sinclair leans her back against
17:21Candace's knees. McDaniel lies next to Sinclair, along Candace's chest. Ponder is at Candace's head,
17:28holding the sheet tightly closed in her left hand. Jean is told to stay near Candace's head,
17:33where she is supposed to emerge, and to aim her words to Candace through the top of the sheet.
17:38The four adults, with a cumulative weight of 673 pounds, begin pushing against the 70-pound girl.
17:46Ponder tells her to take off her shoes. Candace is dressed in jeans and a t-shirt,
17:52sitting on a pad on the floor. Therapist Judy Ponder tells Candace to lie down on the navy blue
17:57flannel sheet and get into a fetal position. Ponder. So imagine yourself as a teeny little baby,
18:04inside your mother's womb, and what it felt like. Warm. It felt tight because her stomach was all
18:10around you. Candace is bound in a sheet, and the end is twisted above her head, held by Ponder. She is
18:16covered by pillows, and four adults begin pressing on her. Ponder. What do you think you thought about
18:22when you were in there? I thought I was gonna die. Ponder. You thought you were gonna die in there? Yeah.
18:28Jean Newmaker. I'm so excited. I'm gonna have a brand new baby. I hope it's a girl. I'm going to
18:34love her, to hold her, and tell her stories. I'm gonna keep her very safe. Every day we'll be together,
18:40and she'll be with me forever. Candace is asked if she believes what her mother is saying. Uh-huh.
18:46Candace is asked how that makes her feel. Happy. Watkin. If the baby doesn't decide to be born,
18:51she will die. When the baby decides to be born, it's a wonderful thing. Ponder. So, little baby,
18:57are you ready to be reborn? Uh-huh. Ponder. Come out head first. You have to push really hard with
19:03your feet. If you stay in there, you're gonna die, and your mommy's gonna die. Who's sitting on me? I
19:09can't do it. I can't do it. My hands come out first? Watkins. Sometimes it takes 18 hours to be born.
19:16I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Whoever is pushing on my head,
19:22it's not helping. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't breathe. It's too dark under here.
19:28Please quit pushing on my head. I can't do it. Somebody's sitting on top of me. Somebody's on
19:34top of me. Where am I supposed to come out? Right here? Where my finger is? I can't do it. I'm gonna die.
19:40Ponder. Do you want to be reborn, or do you want to stay in there and die? Quit pushing on me.
19:46Please. Quit squishing my legs. I'm gonna die now. Ponder. Do you want to die? No,
19:52but I'm about to. Please, please. I can't breathe. I can't do it anymore. Please quit pushing on me.
19:58I need some help. Help. Please help me. Watkins. Are you feeling the contractions, mom?
20:04Newmaker. I am. Where am I to go? Right here? Right here? Am I supposed to go right here? Please,
20:11please, please. Okay, I'm dying. Okay, I'm dying. I'm sorry. Okay, I'm dying. I'm gonna die. I want to die.
20:19Can you let me have some oxygen? You mean like you want me to die? For real? Ponder. Uh-huh.
20:26Die right now and go to heaven? Ponder. Go ahead and die right now. For real. For real. Okay, I'm dead.
20:33Dead. Watkins. It's not always easy to live. You have to really be strong to live a life. A human
20:39life. Get off. I'm sick. Get off. Where am I supposed to come out? Where? But how can I get
20:45there? Watkins. Just go ahead and die. It's easier. It takes a lot of courage to be born. You said you
20:51would give me oxygen. Watkins. You gotta fight for it. Candace vomits. Okay, I'm throwing up. I just threw up.
20:58I gotta poop. I gotta poop. Uh, I'm going in my pants. Ponder. Go ahead. Watkins. Stay in there with
21:06your poop and vomit. Help! I can't breathe. I can't breathe. It's hot. I can't breathe. Newmaker. I'm so
21:13excited to have this baby. I'm waiting for you to love you and hold you. Ponder. Scream, Candace. No.
21:21Newmaker. Baby, I love you already. I'll hold you and love you and keep you safe forever. Don't give up on
21:27your life before you have it. Jack McDaniels repositions himself on the pillow over Candace's
21:34head. Ponder. Candace? No response. Takes another pillow from Newmaker. She needs more pressure over
21:41here so she can't. So she really needs to fight. Watkins. Getting pretty tight in there. Ponder.
21:47Yep, less and less air all the time. Ponder and McDaniel reposition themselves again. Ponder.
21:53She gets to be stuck in her own puke and poop. Watkins. Uh-huh. It's her own life.
21:58Quitter. No. McDaniel. Mama got you this far. Now it's up to you. Watkins. Candace is used
22:05to making her life everybody else's problem. She's not used to living her own life. Ponder.
22:11Quitter. Quitter. Quitter. Quitter. Quit. Quit. Quit. Quit. She's a quitter.
22:15Watkins leaves. Newmaker leaves. McDaniels takes Watkins' place. Watkins returns. McDaniel.
22:21This baby doesn't want to live. She's a quitter. Watkins tells McDaniel and St. Clair to take a
22:27break. Ponder and Watkins discuss someone who is stressed. Then chit-chat about their dream homes
22:33and million-dollar properties nearby that that is being remodeled. Watkins. Let's talk to the twerp.
22:40They unwrap Candace. Watkins. Oh, there she is, sleeping in her vomit. Candace doesn't move. She's lying on
22:46the floor, still and quiet. Candace? Watkins says. Candace. She repeats louder at 10 53 a.m. and the
22:54videotape continues to roll. Jean runs into the room. Candace is not breathing. Her face is blue.
23:00Jean and Ponder start CPR. Watkins calls 911 at 10 56 a.m. Paramedics arrive in 10 minutes. McDaniels
23:09meets Larry Faree and Joel Yort of the Evergreen Fire Protection District at the front door. He tells
23:16the medics that Candace was left alone for five minutes during the rebirthing session and she
23:21isn't breathing. The paramedics find Candace on the floor. Two women are doing CPR. The sheet is at
23:27Candace's feet. There is vomit on her face and a smear of blood around her nose. She is blue and cool to
23:34the touch. Both paramedics think she has been down, unconscious, possibly not breathing for some
23:40time. The two men cut off her t-shirt, do chest compressions, wiping the bile from around her lips
23:46and perform mouth to mouth. Her pupils are fixed and dilated with some redness in her eyes, often a
23:51sign of asphyxia. 11 20 a.m. Candace is life flighted to the hospital where they are able to regain a faint
23:59pulse. A little girl who dreamt of being murdered survives the night on life support at the children's
24:06hospital. By 9 a.m. the next day, Dr. Kirk Stenmark pronounces her brain dead, taking her off life
24:12support. Candace dies from brainstem herniation and cerebral edema brought on by mechanical
24:18asphyxiation. When people back home in Durham heard that Candace died, there was shock and confusion.
24:24No one had the full story as to what happened. Once everyone finally got the story bit by bit,
24:30and even seeing news reports on TV, no one could believe that this kind of thing could happen.
24:36Something is very, very wrong. Her doctors and therapists advised Jean not to go through with
24:41this, that there were other alternatives. A memorial service was held, and even though Jean attended,
24:47she stayed away from the crowd, keeping her swollen eyes hidden underneath glasses. Candace's body was
24:52cremated, and the location of her ashes are unknown.
25:02A year later, Watkins and Ponder were tried and convicted of reckless child abuse resulting in death
25:08and received 16-year prison sentences. Britta Sinclair and Jack McDaniels, the therapeutic foster
25:14parents, pled guilty to criminal negligent child abuse and were given 10 years probation and 1,000 hours
25:22of community service in a plea bargain. The adoptive mother, Jean Newmaker, a nurse practitioner,
25:28pled guilty to negligent and abuse charges and was given a four-year suspended sentence,
25:34after which the charges were expunged from her record. Watkins was paroled in June 2008 under intense
25:41supervision, with restrictions on contact with children or counseling work, having served approximately
25:47seven years of her 16-year sentence.
25:54Now, reactive attachment disorder, or RAD, as it's called, is a rare diagnosis. It's when a child has
26:01trouble not only attaching themselves to their parents, and is most cases adopted parents, due to
26:07past traumatic experiences, say for instance, if their birth parents abused or neglected them, abrupt
26:14separation from caregivers between the ages of six months and three years, frequent changes of
26:19caregivers, or lack of caregiver responsiveness to a child's communicative efforts, that's going to
26:25affect how they see a caregiver. It stems from what is called attachment theory, where the child is
26:31unable to bond with at least one caregiver. Now, not every child is going to have this disorder when
26:37they're in foster care system, or when they are adopted. The signs and symptoms are broken up into
26:42three core features. Number one, indiscriminate and expressive attempts to receive comfort and
26:49affection from any available adult, even a relative stranger. Older children and adolescents may also aim
26:56attempts at peers. This may oftentimes appear as denial of comfort from anyone as well. Number two, extreme
27:05reluctance to initiate or accept comfort and affection even from familiar adults, especially when in
27:12distress. Number three, actions that otherwise would be classified as conduct disorder, such as mutilating
27:19animals, harming siblings, or other family, or harming themselves intentionally. But there is no universal
27:25way to diagnose or treat this disorder because it really hasn't been studied enough. Now, we've seen a fine
27:32example of Rad in the case of Beth Thomas in the HBO documentary Child of Rage. She had little to no remorse
27:39for the things that she was doing. She had to undergo intensive therapy to help treat her issues. I don't think she had the
27:46rebirthing therapy that Candace had, but over time she was able to learn to love and accept love, and she also learned empathy.
27:54Some say another example of this might be Mary Bell from the UK. But because Rad wasn't even a thing at the time, no
28:03treatment could be offered. It's hard to pinpoint what can be used to treat a child with this disorder, so therapists
28:09take it on a case-by-case basis. Because what might work for one child might not be suitable for another. But most importantly,
28:16along with therapy, these kids need time to heal. Someone they can express their frustrations to and be constantly
28:23reminded that their adoptive parents really do love them. As for the parents, they should know what to expect when it comes to
28:29adoption. Kids who are older might not be as receptive to love out of fear or insecurity. We truly don't know what exactly
28:36was wrong with Candace. No one in her community or her school knows anything wrong with her. She behaved like a normal little girl.
28:42Jean never expressed any specific behavior. We don't know how she treated Candace, or if she had expectations
28:49for how she thought adoption would work. And even though she spoiled Candace, I often wonder if she just didn't
28:55spend enough time with her doing some kind of activity and trying to bond with her. Like riding bikes together,
29:01doing arts and crafts together, go roller skating, just find some activity to help with that bonding. Along with a family
29:09therapist, that could have done the trick.
29:16Angie Elmore didn't find out about her daughter's death until September 22, 2000. A journalist had to inform her as to
29:25what happened. She started freaking out, then called her mother Mary, Candace's grandmother. They were screaming and crying
29:32because Angie held out hope that one day Candace would find her and come back. Once she learned about the therapy,
29:39she flatly stated they smothered her. That was my daughter. How did she die from a blanket? Isn't that why they say
29:45don't put pillows on babies? Don't put bags by them? It's stupid. It's stupid. You don't put a child under a pillow
29:53and push on her. Maybe Candace wasn't always the best behaved child, David the grandfather said,
30:00but she did know how to love. Surely that adoptive mother knew that Candace wasn't trying to be mean,
30:06Mary says. The reason why Candace wouldn't let her hold her is because Candace wanted her mother and her
30:12grandmother and her grandfather. Angie says she pays to this day for her mistakes with her kids over and over.
30:19Angie says she loves all of her children. Losing them, well, it's a mixture of her own mistakes and what she believes
30:26is an overzealous social service department. I didn't give my rights away. They took them, she said.
30:32There's a big difference. All Angie was told about Candace's siblings is that they were adopted together near
30:39where Candace was adopted. Angie and Mary learn of Candace's nightmare, the one about being thrown from a
30:46two-story window, maybe by her birth mother. No, Angie said. I've never done anything like that.
30:52They remember once sending Candace and Chelsea to the second floor for room for misbehaving. Angie and Mary
30:59checked on them, finding the girls standing on a windowsill. We told them, please don't do that.
31:04Do you know that would have killed you had you hit the cement? Mary says. Angie says she knows why Candace wouldn't
31:11bond with Jean. I only have one birth. I'm her mama. What I did was God's will, she said. What Jean did was cuckoo.
31:19She played God with my child. Then she directs her anger towards the social worker. I told them, if you take her
31:25away from me, it'll kill her. And that's exactly what they did. They held a memorial service to give Candace a proper farewell.
31:32As the years passed, Candace's law was passed in North Carolina and Colorado, which outlawed dangerous
31:39reenactment of birth experience. Other states are being urged to pass a similar law, so maybe some good will
31:45come from such a tragic ending. Rest in peace, Candace Tiara Elmore, a.k.a. Candace Elizabeth Newmaker.
31:53This case angered me to no end. What was Jean Newmaker thinking when she decided she was going
32:03to adopt a child? Was she thinking, oh, she's going to get attached to me and love me right off the bat?
32:08I think that woman didn't bond the right way with Candace and tried to erase her birth mother from her life,
32:14and that's not right. Her birth mother loved her dearly. She was just having a hard time trying to
32:19make ends meet. Being poor is not a crime. Trying to mold a child into your own image is.
32:24Trusting a bunch of unlicensed people to try and treat a disorder that really has no cure.
32:29Getting a child to bond through trauma is not the way to go. Then try to erase Candace,
32:34stealing her birth and death certificates, cremating her, and not giving her a final resting place.
32:40The whole case just screams wrong. Now I know a lot of people's interest in her story sparked because of
32:46the fictional game slash ARG Petscop, because parts of her case were mentioned. I guess in a way,
32:53it could have been a good thing, because this was another cautionary tale of experimental therapy
32:58gone horribly wrong. So what did you think of this case? Let me know in the comments down below.
33:03And if you enjoyed this video, please like, comment, and subscribe, and tickle that little bell icon
33:09so you don't miss the next episode. You never know who I will cover next.
33:13Thank you for hanging out with me in the Dark Mystery Lounge.
33:16This is Phoenix, signing out. Have a good evening, and stay safe.
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