How incredibly sad. I somehow doubt guilt is the emotion the adoptive parents are feeling at the moment. They might be worried, but for their own hides.

What is even more appalling is that they didn't even know how old he was??!! 11 or 12??!!
Ten years wait to report him missing? It's a good thing I am not in law enforcement. The handcuffs would have gone on both parents immediately.
We have become a society of throw away kids. We love and adore phony politicians, celebrities, and sports "heroes".
Children come last in this country. My state has more uninsured children than any other state in the union. It is embarrassing and shameful.
The death penalty is far too merciful to the criminals who victimize little children.

More details are starting to come out. The video is very revealing. Evidently the abuse of Adam was severe and common knowledge amongst family members.

http://www.kwch.com/Global/story.asp...av=menu486_2_2

(snip)
He lived in the home with Adam and wants to be a voice for his brother a boy who hasn't had one for a decade.
"I felt like I could have done more-you don't want to turn your parents in and get them in trouble."
Adam's brother is referring to abuse he says happened to Adam at the hands of his adoptive parents.
"What I remember most is the abuse and how we would defend him and do everything we could not to let it happen."

Video with Adam's adoptive brother. It is VERY revealing:
http://www.kwch.com/global/video/pop...05849&at1=News

Precious Adam never had a chance. He went from an unstable home to an even more unstable home. I watched the videos. This couple trying to claim the state took him back is B.S.!! Then when that story didn't fly they said he ran away from home. Well, I don't blame him, I would have run away too. But I am sure that is not what happened.
That is the same thing that Baby Grace's mother tried to say, that the state of Ohio came and got her, to lie her way out of the fact that she and her abusive partner murdered her baby girl then put her in an ice chest and left her floating in Galveston Bay.
These people are lower than snakes in the grass. They take advantage of an already broken system. Remember the little black girl Rilya Wilson from Florida? Same thing---where is she?? oh, says the foster parents, the state of Florida took her back, only they didn't. She's been missing for years. Another precious child who never had a chance.
Who is going to speak up for these children who have no voice??? Why aren't these parents and foster parents arrested when they were the ones responsible for the children and they are caught in lies????!!!
I am shocked though that no one from the school system reported Adam missing or asked any questions as to his whereabouts. And where are the extended family members in these situations?? There have got to be relatives of these sicko families that know these children are gone----why aren't they being arrested too???!! If Adam went to another school they would have had to get his shot records and report cards from school. If Adam was no longer in school and no one requested his records, someone should have immediately conducted an investigation, especially given the fact he had already been in the state's care. And I use the word care very loosely. Care-less is more like it.
Ok, they now have a video where his brother says he was abused badly. Why aren't these parents behind bars yet????!!!

I wonder who finally reported Adam missing?

As an adoptive father of two precious little boys I'd just like to express my horror at this tragedy. After all my wife and I went through to become parents I cannot imagine ever hurting my children...through the agency we used we signed a document stating that we would not use corporal punishment and I would not ever lay a hand on my boys. When I hear of adoptive parents abusing their children it makes me sick to my stomach. Adoption is a difficult and often painful way to make a family, but such a blessing to those who get to become parents...to throw it all away like that, I just cannot fathom. I hope for resolution in this case and justice for Adam, wherever he is.

Amazing... amazing. Okay ... let me get this straight ... neither his adoptive parents nor his biological parents ever reported him missing???? God, that pisses me off. FOR TEN YEARS???? All of them need to be shot, and that is too easy. No telling what happened to that poor child.
"Wichita attorney Warner Eisenbise, who is representing Adam's adoptive parents, said the couple "really rue the fact that they didn't" report the boy missing. (awe, how sweet, ... "rue" what a great, attorney word to use). "F*cked up" would be a better word!

"They feel very guilty" about not doing that, he said in a telephone interview. The couple told him the boy had run away frequently, he said, and they believed him to be either with his biological parents or homeless".

Oh, okay so fine, so they never reported him missing??? But I bet they continued to collect their welfare checks for adopting a child that nobody else wanted. An Eleven Year Old kid missing???? And nobody knew? And they assumed he ran away to be with his biological parents or just "homeless"? And did not follow up???? "Oh, ooooops, he was here yesterday, gone today... probably ran away to find his his biological parents.. we just won't report this or say anything." Grrrrrr. That poor baby. It will be interesting to see how long they accepted government support checks after he disappeared. F*ckers. They killed him. And his biological parents suck just as bad for all of the sudden acting all concerned. His Bio Dad said,"I thought what I was doing for 'them' was in the best interest of the 'children' and evidently it wasn't," Irvin Groeninger told KWCH. "If he was still in my custody this would have never happened." Gee whiz you dumb sh*t... where have you been the past ten years?? All of the sudden, you are Wonder Dad???
Pitiful, pitiful, pitiful.

I find this unbelievable! No-one reports him missing for 10 years, no teachers or neighbours, let alone his family? It sinks to heaven and the sooner his adoptive parents are arrested and banged up in jail, the better, IMHO.

I read the parents had told people they were home schooling. Even so, in Texas, kids can enroll without records and it is not unusual for records to be slow in coming. But any parent can claim they are home schooling and a child can drop out of sight with no question. That is a parent's right. Since the parents had adopted this child, the state was no longer invested in his care. Sadly, no one was. Interesting, the brother discussed the abuse but also said he hated to get his parents in trouble. I would guess the brother must have reported Adam was missing.

It is unspeackably sad how some kids never get a chance. This little guy had such a sweet open face. It seems impossible to think anyone would abuse him, but even worse no other adults were involved in his life to notice he was being harmed or when he went missing.

What's creepy is if Cindy Anthony hadn't called 911 because she was so pissed off at her daughter for stealing her car and money, we'd only of heard that Caylee was missing ten years from now...if ever. Their are alot of these supposed "runaway" cases out there. Aarone Thompson is one of about a dozen or so I can't think of, but I do not remember the names. One person had a blog dedicated to one little boy, that followed his case all the way through his adoptive parents trial.

Compassrose, what's interesting is how much "home schooling" plays a role in these cases. It's a tool child abusers use to hide the abuse. It gives legitimate home schoolers a black eye and they bristle at the notion. IMO, too many times I've heard of a school reporting abuse that was deemed unsubstantiated for whatever reason, the parents then pull those kids out to homeschool them. Next thing we hear is a tragic story like the one being reported here.

I was in foster care for 6 years as a child. Taken by the state of Texas in documented illegal termination of parental rights (my birth parents NEVER abused me.)Over the six years in foster care I lived with 8 families, multiple abusive homes...finally at age 9 I made a conscious choice to take the next set of people as parents who expressed interest. I was adopted into a home where I was raped, verbally and physically abused. Yes, relatives in the adopted family knew what was going on. Now as an adult they tell me "well, we didn't know if we would make it worse on you if we intervened."

Why didn't I tell anyone? Because NO ONE CARED. I had already been in the system, I knew what that was like. At least with only one family who was abusive, I could learn the rules and avoid a lot of the abuse.

Children in our society are disposable. I work as an ER nurse and I see many parents verbally abuse their children. Difficult to intervene when the abuse is verbal as it will make it worse on the kids. When I care for foster care kids who are with a good family, I speak to them as a peer and can offer them encouragement that life does get better.

Based on the little I know of this case, and my intuition, the kid is dead. The adoptive parents killed him and disposed of body in a manner so they wouldn't get caught. No one cared about him then and it is a huge pretense on their part to say they are worried about him.

Before you get too rough on the birthfamily, remember that after parental rights are terminated birthparents are vigorously discouraged from contacting the children they gave up for adoption. Attempting to do so before the child turns 18 (and in some cases and jurisdictions this can be extended to 22 years of age) can be construed as child abuse or even attempted kidnapping in court. They may not have had any reason to believe anything other than that Adam was safely with his adoptive parents up until very recently.

What the F*&%? Are these people blind or is this the perfect example of people washing their hands clean of this child. It isn't just so easy to decide your home schooling a child. The State still wants to see testing and what not. Your telling me this child wasn't missed by ANYBODY?

This isn't just the a-holes that hurt this child but, all the people that have ever come in contact with him at any point in his short little life. They are all guilty!
Karma will come back to them.

Steve, take care how you quote. Tracking this story back to the CNN report you cite, I notice the adoptive parents were being paraphrased in the following instance:

A Wichita-based attorney told the media that Doug and Valerie Herrman "feel very guilty" that they didn't report the boy missing, and they are "very worried about him."

Your use of quotes here makes it seem very much as if their words are being quoted. Better you should have extended the quote to "they were very worried about him," which would have made it clear they were being paraphrased.

A small point, but as you see from the comments, readers are very eager to seize on anything they perceive to be a quote and draw hasty conclusions from it.

Now that the world has experienced the appalling and devastating case of Caylee Anthony, I wonder how many of these cases will come creeping out from nowhere. The ability of parents to kill their own children was not even a consideration a few years ago. Now this type of crime is a daily occurance.

ENFOCEMENT REFUSES TO FILE MISSING KIDNAPPED CHILDREN.

MINE WERE KIDNAPPED REPEATEDLY IN 2002/3 AND ARE STILL GONE COP FRIENDS OF MY ESTRANGED REFUSE TO FILE> MY MOTHER WAS THEN LOCKED IN A NURSING HOME IN THE ALZIMERS UNIT UNDER SOME GUYS NAME. THEY WERE NOT MARRIED AND NO COMMON LAW MARRIAGE IN THAT STATE THEY LET HIM COME BACK THEN WITH A POWER OF ATTORNEY AND KEEP HER HOUSE ECT. SHE DIED WITH NO DOCTOR HAVING EVER EXAMINED HER. ST PAUL MN DOESN'T DO AUTOPSIES ON NURSING HOME PATIENTS. THE NURSING HOME SAID IT WAS OK

COPS AND COURTS REFUSED ANY REASONABLE ACTION INCLUDING DEMAND FOR TRANSPORT TO THE U OF M ER.

My thoughts on why he wasn't reported missing is that if the adoptive parents reported him missing, they'd have a lot of explaining to do.

As in...he was never really missing.

I am pretty sure that they know exactly what happened to him and that they know exactly where he is. As someone said earlier, Caylee never would have came to light if Cindy hadn't phoned it in.

This never would have came to light if somebody hadn't phoned it in...

I apologize in advance if I am wrong.

Babette, parents have killed their children for a long time. Caylee wasn't the first, and unfortunately, she won't be the last. This isn't a "new" phenomenon (as evidence by the fact that THIS child has been missing for ten years.)

i went to school with one of the hermans children... i also knew the parents... back when this all took place i did allot of work setting up mobile homes in the park they lived.. the park was growing fast and if the police are going to treat this like a homicide there are allot of places a body could have been hidden there...

Adoptive and/or foster parents in trailer parks?? Who "homeschool"?? With all due respect to the upstanding folks who live in such, all I can say is "duh!"

This makes me sick. According to CBS News: http://tinyurl.com/97fq5z, the Herrmans claimed he ran away in 1999 but were still claiming him as a dependent in 2002.

I doubt he was a habitual runaway and problem child as their attorney states in the same article. But, even if he were, what decent person allows an 11-year old to just disappear without following up? Even if they decided they could no longer care for him, they should have made sure he was placed in foster care. Most people do at least that for a pet, how could anyone be so unfeeling towards a child.

Just disgusting!

Soobs said:
Babette, parents have killed their children for a long time. Caylee wasn't the first, and unfortunately, she won't be the last. This isn't a "new" phenomenon (as evidence by the fact that THIS child has been missing for ten years.)

I realize that this is not new phenomenon and that Caylee was not the first or last. The point I was making was that media coverage escalates when high profile cases like Caylee's develope. Media digs for other cases to fuel the frenzy when they should be covering it anyway.

Just observance

The brother should be able to tell if Adam frequently ran away.

I guess we can look at this media overage in some positive way. It maight have prompted this report Adam is missing. No one should just disappear and no one notice. Ten years is shameful but never would be worse.

I really wonder if we will ever be able to achieve a really good and functional foster care and adoption system in this country where innocent children don't fall through the cracks. But we are dealing with human nature here, human weakness and flaws, and yes, evil also.
The home schooling suddenly projected me back to the Andrea Yates case. No one suspected a thing, no sign of abuse at any time with these 5 kids, yet they are all dead, at the hands of their own mother. It is too overwhelming to even fathom. When you try to put the pieces together of their lives along the way you can see how it happened. But no one ever seems to be able to connect the dots in the right way at the right time. With Andrea, it was severe bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression and "hearing voices" that supposedly drove her to a murderous act, with religious fanatacism also contributing.
With these abused children it is the shame that keeps them from ratting out these horrendous parents. They honestly feel they themselves have done something to bring on the abuse. We all know differently, but they don't. They are innocent. They just want the abuse to go away, the pain to stop, and to be loved and accepted for who they are.
I have spent most of the last 35 years of my life around young children. They are completely and totally the product of their upbringing. If you only knew how much we in the public schools must now take on in the way of responsibility for just about every aspect of these kids' lives because many of their parents won't accept their responsibility. We're teachers, not magicians. But I can tell you this, if we know or even suspect that a child may be a victim of abuse of any kind and fail to report it, we are subject to prosecution. And as for the school records, they are indeed checked on. A parent has just so many days to produce a valid birth certificate, social security card, shot records, and proof of residence. If they fail to produce these in a timely manner their child cannot remain in school, period. That is the public school, each private school probably has their own set of rules. A landmark lawsuit is what brought about the states' inability to prosecute for home schooling seeing it as a violation of parent's rights to force them to educate their child in a place other than home. The state lost. Home schooling won. I can certainly see why many parents choose this route and it can be a great thing for the right kids and the right parents. But I have also seen it used as a way for lazy parents to get out of their responsibility to educate their children properly.

Babette - "Media digs for other cases to fuel the frenzy when they should be covering it anyway."

I certainly agree with this.

Well, if they were not receiving money for his care and there was no life insurance claim, maybe the kid just ran away and its no big deal.

No big deal???? When an 11 or 12 year old child runs away it is ALWAYS a big deal!!!! Especially when that child is already "at risk"!!!!
Those parents are responsible REGARDLESS of the circumstances and they had a legal obligation to report him missing!

we want to point fingers and lay blame. you want the harsh truth? WE (society) ARE TO BLAME!! these people get away with abusing their kids (even murdering them) because PEOPLE KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT WHEN THEY SEE INJUSTICE GOING ON, FOR WHATEVER REASON!!!! i am a child of abuse and im a paramedic that goes into these households. only AFTER the abuse comes out, do family, friends and neighbors come forward and say, yea, blah blah blah. people need to quit being COWARDS and speak up when things are not right! only then will these monsterous adults get a clue that crimes against kids WILL NOT BE TOLLERATED!! 9 out of 10 times, other people know whats going on and let it go, THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED! these are kids and they are scared. we need to be a voice for them. even if they arent murdered, they grow up and become our peers and yes, most the time they have big problems because of years of abuse. quit blaming the cops and other authority figures- SOCIETY NEEDS TO STEP UP AND BECOME A PEST IN THESE DYSFUNCTIONAL LIVES, BEFORE IT GETS OUT OF HAND!!! THERE IS ALOT MORE OF US, THAN LAW ENFORCEMENT!!

Does anybody else think that he most certainly did not run away??

People are saying how crazy it is that the adoptive parents did not report him missing and I still believe that he was never missing.

I believe that the adoptive parents may have abused him to the point of accidentally causing his death, which of course would mean that they would then hide his body rather than report him "missing."

I am sure that now that his has come to light, of course they are going to say that they should have reported him missing. Covering their tracks. Typical.

To all the theorists out there:

My money says that this in NOT Caylee 2.0. (and my batting average is pretty high for this sort of thing). In fact my money is on... money. The kid disappeared, probably after a spat with his trailer trash adoptive parents. They don't report him missing so they can keep cashing those juicy government checks. Now that he would be over 18, he's not worth any money to them, and, like everyone else they've seen Casey's mug on the news and don't want to end up in that situation, so they opt to actually report his decade old disappearance. Any takers?

I disagree Vega. And by the way, if you listened to the brother, people like this don't have "spats". They severely abused this child. God only knows what really went on. My guess is they pretty much kept him prisoner, he probably never even had a chance to escape. Remember the case of a 16 year old a few weeks ago that escaped his "dungeon" and ran across the street and hid in a fitness center?? Remember the sicko guy from Germany who kept his own daughter prisoner for decades and had children by her? The 16 year old was filthy dirty and was so scared he hid UNDER a desk and would not come out until the police assured him his captors would not be allowed near him. And he was 16, imagine how it would feel to be 11 or 12 going though this. They need to start looking for his remains, the sooner the better.

What government agency was overseeing the foster home? Aren't they suppose to account for and monitor every foster family and do inspections? This is clear, Adam slipped through the cracks and if he had supposedly run away to his biological parents, why wasn't that verified? Something needs to be done to ensure that foster parents are investigated intensively before they are allowed to care for our foster children. The motivation unfortunatly is the money for some of these foster parents.

Details aside, I think we both agree on the main point I was trying to make, that the foster parent's motivation in this case begins and ends with the almighty $. I suspect their arrests to follow an interrogation, if there is one. Apparently, they've already lawyered up, which is never a good sign.

I think the fact that they kept cashing their $700/mo adoption assistance payments speaks volumes. "We just kept hoping he'd come back" Well you made almost $60 grand in money for a child that had been "missing". Bunch of crap. If this woman is who I think she is (I'm from the area - have to see a picture to be sure), she's an odd duck anyway.

Let's assume for a second the kid is a frequent run away...Towanda is a town of under 1,000 people. They are about 8 miles at least from civilization on all sides. If this child ran away, someone would have seen him. Towanda is one of those quintessential gossipy little towns...if a kid ran away chances are someone would have known about it. Not to mention the fact that after a couple of days you would report an 11 or 12 year old runaway missing if you have 1/2 a brain in your head.

At the very least these people should be jailed for child endangerment, fraud and tax evasion.

It's my understanding that once parents legally adopt a foster child, there is no more money involved in the form of payment by the state. Of course if they are on food stamps or some sort of welfare I am sure the numbers of children probably increase the amount they would receive. Adam had been legally adopted by these people. I believe payment is involved only for foster care. Am I right on this?

http://www.kansas.com/news/story/654039.html
This is from the Wichita Eagle this morning:

"The Herrmans said they had lived a lie and regret it.

In court documents, they continued to list Adam as a son in 2003, more than four years after he disappeared. If they had not, it would have drawn scrutiny that also could have led to their children being taken away, Doug Herrman said in the interview.

For the same reason, they continued to accept state adoption subsidy payments for Adam until his 18th birthday, Valerie Herrman said. She said she sent back a check she received after his 18th birthday.

"I feel very guilty about stealing that money," she said tearfully.

"It was $700 a month. I kept hoping he was going to come back, though."

The 52-year-old woman, who now lives in Derby, said she regrets lying to relatives for almost a decade by saying Adam was returned to state custody. "But I didn't know anything else to do," she said."

Also, the Eagle is reporting that it was an older biological daughter of the Herrmans that called the Kansas SRS to inquire about her adoptive brothers whereabouts.

http://www.kansas.com/news/breaking/story/654856.html

Has there been anything said about whether the adoptive parents were receiving any money from the state for Adam/Ivan? If so, did they keep depositing these funds when he went missing?

Connie, yes they were receiving money from the state up until his 18th birthday. They received $700/mo for the care of Adam.

Well, if they can't hang them on murder, then they will get them for fraud for keeping the money after Adam had disappeared. They need to be arrested immediately on those charges alone. Why are they STILL not behind bars?

Well, the only way that I might be convinced that Adam did not die by the adoptive parent's hands at the age of "10 or 11" is if he turns up, alive and well, and soon.

Neechi is right...he was young and the town was small and somebody would have noticed a "10 or 11" year old boy who was on his own.

according to a local news report the sister occasionally called his home only to be told he was fine.....and cnn reports "Adam's sister, Tiffany Broadfoot, 22, said she had last seen her brother about 14 years ago at a birthday party."

so in all those 14 years she never once bothered to drag her fat ass to see him in person to even say screw you???....she is as big a bucket of crap as the parents....there wasn't one person in this whole wide world who gave two flips for that poor kid.....god be merciful to him....

I don't know that it's fair to criticize his sister (Tiffany Broadfoot), she's only a year older than him and was adopted by a different family. She was just a kid when all this happened. Most reports have said that she was asked to not call.

Now if you really mean the aunt I think her name is Kim Wilson then that's a much more valid argument. Our local CBS affiliate has a roadmap for the characters in this drama. It's www.kwch.com and it's under the What Happened to Adam section.

I just checked the website for The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children. Adam's photo and profile are listed there along with a computer aged photo showing what he would look like today.
I did a search for missing males from Kansas. There were 5. Two were parental abduction. The other two were older teen boys who have only gone missing within the last year.
I just don't see a pattern there, I doubt there is any kind of serial killer that was abducting young boys in that area. Had there been the police would probably have picked up on it.
Does anyone remember the stories of the Boxcar Children from the Great Depression era? This story reminds me of that because of the exploitation for money, back then they used these kids for slave labor on farms, and in factories. It was sad because they would ship hundreds of foster kids all over the country in trains. Many times it was whole families of kids whose birth parents didn't abuse them but because of extreme poverty or death of a spouse they could no longer care for them. There was no welfare back then.
These kids would never see their brothers or sisters again. Many of them have been re-united since the television and computer age.
The Herrman case is no different. They exploited these kids for financial gain and abused them.
They have also exploited the overburdened system knowing that there is just not enough manpower to keep tabs on these kids as they move from home to home.
It just doesn;t get any more evil than this.

The parents should have be immediately arrested for child endangerment and/or child abandonment. Funny how the six year old who missed the school bus and decided to take the car while his Mom was sleeping parents' were arrested under these charges. There is no way that the adopted parents should not be in jail. If these were minority parents they would already be in prison.

"I don't know that it's fair to criticize his sister..."

every single person from the corrupt state to the blood family is to be criticized including the sister....she was perhaps 13 years old when he disappeared....and she is only now wondering why he never returned any of her calls? my fat ass....

supposing that she couldn't form a coherent thought until she turned 18 did it not strike her as a bit odd that she never heard from him.....ever....since that birthday party?

Do you mean the Orphan trains that ran from the NE during the mid 1800s to the early 1900s? Truthfully, some of those children did find good homes with loving families, but many, many were exploited and abused. Not much difference today. There are children that find good homes today, but many end up in situations like poor Adam. I would guess the odds of success are something like buying a winning lotto ticket. It seems the Hermanns did not mistreat their other children, and I realize that is not unusual, but if the other children didn't show signs of abuse or complained, no one probably suspected Adam was in trouble.

I have to agree with Jacky. As a society, we are failing too many of our children. Truth is, it is not just teachers and caregivers that are required to report abuse. Everyone is expected to report any suspected abuse. I read about a neighbor that had put a glass to the wall between his apartment and that of a family that was abusing their daughter. The little girl died of her abuse and this neighbor said he could hear this child in all her misery through the wall crying. If he was that nosy, why wasn't he concerned enough to call CPS? So tragic and so preventable. When we turn a blind eye and let abuse continue, we are guilty of passive approval.

why is he just being reported now?? i hope he is ok!

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=6590834

Aww read this account of his childhood...

I read that the parents said that they searched for him for two days. Two days?! I've spent more time than that looking for a runaway DOG. This was an 11 year old child. The excuses these parents give just show their true character. So sad.

I read that the parents said that they searched for him for two days. Two days?! I've spent more time than that looking for a runaway DOG. This was an 11 year old child. The excuses these parents give just show their true character. So sad.

This is truly a shame and I hope justice is swift for Adam. It's also a shame that people use a tragedy like this to try to support their biases. The fact that they lived in a trailer or homeschooled has nothing to do with this! Evil comes in all shapes and sizes. Rich, middle class, poor, homeschool, private or public, sick people are everywhere!! Those of you who are using this as an opportunity to bash homeschooling are ignorant.

sunnyday: Not that this has anything to do with the mssing boy but you said that St Paul doesnt' do autopsies on nursign home patients. Did you ask for one? You are able to do that if you feel it is necessary. I don't even believe that you need a "reason" to do one.

Incredible B.S.!!!! Where was the school officials when parents did not act?? No order for school records for a move??? Neighbors??? This is horrid to not be reported for so long....shame shame... upset I even had to come upon on this story....and so many....wish "Nancy Grace" would reach out to more than 1 story at a time!!!

I don't understand why some adoptive parents' even adopt. What is the purpose if they aren't going to love them and be parents that care? By adopting, one is taking on the responsibility of another life. They are responsible for being a part of that child's life and to make it meaningful in a good way. Why do they adopt? I don't get it.

What I don't understand is... how adoption agencies (or what have you,) seem to let just anyone off the streets adopt (or take in for a while) children. I would do an extensive background check before letting Anyone "take care" of any kids, plus I'd also have them psychologically evaluated. You never know. Possible foster parents should be evaluated in every concievable way to make sure a child is safe with them.

It is a shame that no one keeps on top of these kids even after they are adopted. Where was the Social Worker who kept letting this family take in foster children, and the school system should have followed up to check on this kid with Social Services. The school system sees a lot and they don't do a thing about abuse, maltreatment, or neglect. When a child comes to school dirty, and hungru and striving for attention, there is something seriously wrong with this picture. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck; nine times out of ten it is a duck. Society in general is responsible for kids also, where are the rest of us? I think that CFS, DFS, child services is overloaded and it is a waste of the tax payers money. We send those poor kids back to abusive, drug infested, and etc. parents, or we put them in the same situation we are suppose to be trying to get them out. Animals have more money and rights given to them than children. That little boy could had ran away, but it still should have been reported to the police. Sad :(

Adam's adoptive parents were interviewed on Larry King Live last night. The mother had come from a very abusive home and according to her they took Adam away for fear she would repeat the abuse. I do not think that is the whole story.
Does anyone notice in the picture that Adam has an obvious injury to his forehead? At first I thought it was just a lock of hair, but when I saw his pic shown on tv last night on a large screen tv, LKL it was obvious it was an injury.
I agree that Nancy Grace need to start covering other cases, she has done the Caylee story only now for just 6 months.

This comment goes out to Neechi-- you said that you are from the area, didn't you notice that the boy was missing, and if so why didn't you question it? Just wondering.

How could us as a socieity let this happen? Not only to this little boy, but to others? Well, it's about being blind and not taking action and/or monitoring our agencies as well as the parents who decide to home school their children. Yeh, you hear it all the time from agencies, they are overworked, not enough staff, budget cuts, etc, etc, etc, however we are talking about innocent children. There should be no excuse!!! I know I went off of subject here, but everyone is to blame here...
Your right! The parents should be in jail, they knew exactly what they were doing and why. Not only for neglect of not reporting it, but for accepting the money until he would have turned 18. My goodness, not reporting it for 10 years!!!!!

Mel, I can tell you from personal experience that good, reputable agencies do NOT let "anyone off the streets" adopt or become foster parents. During our approval process, we had to undergo extensive background checks including county, state and FBI criminal records checks. Even a juvenile misdemeanor arrest without a conviction, depending on the charge, can be enough to decline one's petition to foster/adopt.

Remember, when the "system" works as it should (and I'm in no way trying to infer that the system always works, unfortunately) foster and adoptive parents go through way more in the way of criminal and psychological investigation than biological parents (none!) do to have kids. Sadly, anyone can become an abuser - foster, adoptive, biological parents included.

I just wanted to stand up for adoptive parents. I am an adoptive mom and it was a very invasive process. The courts and social workers are not going to let just anyone adopt a child.

Sure there are always evil, mean, and selfish people that become parents and even adopt children. Somehow these people fell through the cracks, or deceived their way into becoming his parents. Adam obviously deserved so much more.

They "feel guilty" for getting caught and are "very worried" about what will happen to them. Anyone who loved their son would have done all in their power to find him... search parties, police, you name it. The fact they were benefiting financially from the state on his behalf adds to the suspicious circumstances.
1) she got rid of the child she didn't want
2) they used the money that should go to supporting that child

Their own relatives won't even lie for them, not even their son. I think it's quite obvious what happened here. That poor boy.

I truly agree that this is a horrid tragedy and unfortunatly this will not be the last but with any luck Adam will be alive and come forward, doubtful though my first thought when I read the article was that 'they killed him' wheather they meant to or it was accidental I feel he is dead. Someone stated it had something to with money I think that was just a bonus for them otherwise they could just keep abusing him and keep getting paid for it, and if he did runaway why didn't they still report him as a runaway or if they supposedly didn't want their childern taken away then they should have put that money into an account so that if the kid did show back up it would go to him it would certainly help their case somewhat. And I agree that anyone who knew of the abuse should get jail time for not attempting to help-we tried helping a friend of my daughters whom was 14, only for him to be put into a halfway home for a few days then sent right back to his abuser- we tried contacting the boy in the halfway house but they wouldn't let us, we left messages for him which we don't believe he recieved. With this it makes it look as though we sent him back to the lions den and when he was sent back he ranaway again and has been back in juvie a few times.
And it is very true that childern and animals are last on the list to recieve rights and that's because it is adults that live in perfect little worlds that make the rules. If Adam did runaway he did it for a reason and if he'd done it so many times before why wasn't it reported then? Someone stated that"if he did runaway that it's no big deal" I dissagree with that it is a big deal, childern have a hard enough time in our world and are not asked to be born into it- if I had had the choich to be born into this world or not I would've chosen NOT- and what is even more disturbing is the parents whom kick their childern out of the homes before the age of 18, find another solution we do not need to make it easier for child molesters and preditors to get to our childern by putting them on the streets to try an fend for themselves. Watch I guarantee that these two will be arrested.

I recently witnessed severe verbal abuse of a child by his parent at our school. It was bad enough - in my mind - to warrant action. I called the school and it was suggested that I call Social Services. I filed a report - anonymously. I also called several other parents to ask them to call. No one else called. I'm not sure if people are apathetic or afraid but, as adults, we have to protect all children. Children don't necessarily know what they are experiencing is abuse - adults most certainly do. No child should ever be chained to a bathtub or locked up - ever. My call did not result in the child being removed from the parents but it did add to a growing file which, ultimately, did result in removal. This family now has the opportunity to change their behavior and this child has a chance at a normal, safe life. My advice is to take action and allow the system, however faulty, to work. One phone call, a decade ago, could have saved Adam.

I have an incredibly big heart for abused and abandoned children to take them in my arms and make sure they are kept safe from the evil parents that abuse them. Thank God that the evil people are being exposed by the ways of communication that is available now. By not reporting that this child was missing was an evil act. I would have loved to have been there for that child. I am in the process of adopting a child within the US. I pray constantly for these children that have been abused and abandoned. This child was abandoned not only once, but twice by people that were suppose to love him. How sad! May God keep this child close in his arms no matter where he may be now. Look at the wonderful light of life in this child's eye in his photo. Where are you now, Adam Herrman? We all need to see you.

We had a similar case here in Michigan. Ricky Holland was reported missing by his adoptive parents, and supposedly he 'ran away.' The police did not believe this and worked behind the scenes, finally persuading the adoptive father to lead them to Ricky's body. He had been abused and murdered. Both parents were prosecuted and convicted. I suspect this case will turn out the same way.

Let us be charitable and suppose for one moment that Adam ran away. He's eleven. And scared. Where does he go? Who does he run into? If he runs into a paedophile he's either abused again, or dead. It just doesn't play as a scenario, does it? No child is a runaway IMHO - they are either victims of murder by their parents, or other abusers, such as the very young girls Gary Ridgway killed, or the young boys victims of such killers as John Gacy

Several years ago, my husband and I adopted a nephew, and I've never heard of "adoption subsidy payments." Once we adopted, we did not receive any more help from the state, though while we were legal guardians, he was eligible for some programs like Head Start, etc.

Maybe different states have different policies?

There is more to this story than just this child, no one reported anything. why? that is what should be asked, to many people did nothing. I would look deeper into the area and town and see if this has happened befor and not reported. To many people seem surprised and shocked, but nobody did anything, strange.

There is more to this story than just this child, no one reported anything. why? that is what should be asked, to many people did nothing. I would look deeper into the area and town and see if this has happened befor and not reported. To many people seem surprised and shocked, but nobody did anything, strange.

What an awful life that boy has lived. But I am sure the adoptive parents didn't report him missing and collected any monies they were receiving to have this child in their care. So, where was the social worker and who was looking in on this case for all these years.

Babs: It was not just your job to call Social Services on the verbal abuse; it is also that professional teachers job to call and intervene with the situation. She/he are LEGALLY suppose to turn those things in, and if they don't they can lose their certification. I know you don't want to push it that far, to protect your own children; but that is the rule, if he/she did absolutely nothing (what kind of parents are they?), what kind of professionals are they? Makes you wonder? This is what I was talking about, they turn the other way and legally should not. If I were the parents of this young man, I wouldn't just go for Social Services or the adoption agency; I would go for all those professionals that are suppose to be watching out for our children of this world. When our children enter the school grounds, it is that teachers, janitors, aides, principals and superintendents jobs to protect our children of this world while they are in their custody. :(

One of you made a comment about people living in trailer parks and you are unfortunatly mostly correct. When my husband and I moved to Florida we moved into a very nice park with homes that were the equivlant of ranch houses, only off the ground. We were one of the first houses in the park and as more people moved in we became increasingly alarmed at what we had gotten our family into. The day two boys who were friends of my son came running down the street screaming that their father was killing their mother we had had enough. We called the police for that, nothing done. We called the police for the little boy was being drugged by his mother and grandmother, nothing done. We suspect munchhausins(?). After years the doctors started asking questions so they fled the state. I imagine this tortured child is now dead dispite calls from numerous people. We called about the 16 year old girl who had a child, lived in a house of disgusting filth(her child was often covered in cat waste)with her mother, stepfather, and their live in lover who had an eye for little girls.NOTHING DONE. They moved to another state and last I heard the girl was going to marry the parents' lover. There was the child molester who moved down the street, the mother who fell asleep in the driveway and left her two year old to roam the streeets(with nothing on but underware mind you) and who begged me to take her home with me, and my favorite, the grown digusting man who asked our fifteen year old neighbor to run away with him and THE PARENTS did nothing. While many, many of the people were quite nice, we ran for our lives at our first chance. We reported and the reply we got time and again was that there was nothing the authoities could do. Please don't wonder how this happened, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

RE: Chris

I graduated from high school in Towanda (it's a mixed town district school, three towns kids go to the same high school - Circle) in 1995 so I wouldn't have known Adam, also I lived in another little town about 8 miles away (Benton for anyone from the area) so while I'm familiar with the area, this trailer park and many of the areas mentioned in the news articles I didn't know the family at the time. I have met the mother thru a previous job, as well as Adam's younger sister.

As far as the school not noticing - the reports are he was pulled out of a short stint at Towanda Grade School in favor of homeschooling because he "hated school".

this is sad, there are lots of people out there that get their kids taken every year and have done nothing wrong more less he says she says crap but yet people cant even keep up with a child moreless report them missing and where is the state in all this mess should they have been doing a better job placing kids in foster care or keeping records and reports of the entire family (where are the investagation reports at about theses fosters parents). poor little one, hope people learn their lessons, lets just hope that ignorance is not played upon the worlds children.

This is to Nana,

The reason they received payments from the state was due to Adam's "special needs" status. (I would suspect they also received payments on at least one of the younger siblings as well). I'm not sure if that is a law specific to Kansas or if it's Federal, but it helps to offset the cost for treatment/care as well as anything that isn't covered by the family's insurance policy due to pre-existing conditions, limitations, etc..

I just don't understand how a child could be so disposable that nobody would care about him or notice him missing. It's very sad.

As a law enforcement officer, I can guarantee, guarantee, the only remorse they are experiencing right at this moment, is remorse for getting caught! Stupid, ignorant people.

Lets just put the money issue aside in this. Everyone is in agreement that money is a motivation for people to break the law regardless.
The bigger issue is this boy has been missing for 10 YEARS....10 YEARS and not one person in the 10 years questioned where this boy went. Im sure this boy had friends that he would have played with and those friends would have commented to their parents about Adam. Isn't it law that kids must attend school until a certain age...home schooled kids still need to show proof of schooling. There are so many unanswered questions. I would certainly notice if one of my kids friends were all of a sudden not in conversations or not coming around etc. I would question my kids on what is going on? If something sounds odd I would talk to other parents.
So... let me get this straight. This child disappears and no one steps forward to ask why?? Ok... what if the abuse is in your face... you see or hear it. Would you then ask questions or would you stay silent?? People..... You must step forward if something doesn't look right. These little people need us to protect them... they are too young and small to fight back. Every child that we can save from being harmed is a step towards beating these bastards that prey on children.

The state should regularly be monitoring anyone receiving state funds for special needs children, especially to the tune of $700 a month, that's alot of money.
It's amazing to me, in the public schools we have to have a track record and documentation of everything. Every t has to be crossed, every i dotted. If we get audited for any program and the paperwork is not in order, woe be unto us.
The special education program is especially monitored, they have a ton of paperwork to do constantly, by the school counselors, administrators, teachers, speech therapists, all of it. They have to account for everything they do.
So, the way I see it, as long as the children are inside the school walls, the state is looking out for them, the minute they leave, they are on their own.
There is something wrong with this picture.

This is the email address for Steve Six, the Attorney General of the State of Kansas.
general@ksag.org
Please write on behalf of Adam! I hope they get thousands of angry emails, phone calls, letters, and whatever. They deserve it.
I just wrote to him and filed a complaint on behalf of Adam Herrman, since Adam no longer has a voice and probably no longer has a life either. I can assure you it was not a warm fuzzy letter. The Attorney General of Kansas is where the buck stops on Adam. He is the responsible officer of the government in this case. Hold him accountable.
There are probably other children too right now in states everywhere that are being neglected and abused while their "captors" get lots of money from the state.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!

Everyone that is on this comment page, please keep up with this "cold case". Maybe our words will make an impact on the Department of Social Services and the police investigation to make the search even stronger and more forceful to get justice for this child.

To Police Investigators: Please take soil samples of the area that is being searched. That is one way of finding if the ground holds the high ph levels where a body has decomposed. Please form a search line of people that are willing to search every stone uncovered. I saw this done when little Melissa was murdered by the maintenace man in the apt. complex where she lived in Lorton, VA back in the late 80's. People strecthed arms length and never missed looking under even lumps of grass. They went on personal property even to search. That's what should have been done for the Anthony girl. She would have been found sooner.

Thank you Native Texan. I'll write, too. Thanks for the info.

To Navitve Texan. Thank you for the information. I will write an email to let Mr. Steve Six know how this has to stop and enough is enough.

I don't believe for a minute that this little boy ever went missing as a run away. I think one or both of the adoptive parents caused his death. It is outrageous to think that they kept accepting the money from the state for this young boy when he was no longer in their home and worse that they never said a word to anyone.

I hope and pray that charges are brought and these parents pay dearly for what they did to this young boy. I hope that his body is found and he gets a decent buriel. He deserves that much...poor little kid.

I too will send an email to the Attorney General Mr. Six.

if the sister is 22 and her last contact was 14 years ago she would have been 8 and being adopted by a different family and told not to call the Herrmans is traumatic for any 8 year old so we need to lay off the sister also not sure of the age for this state she may not have been able to contact until he turned 21 which would be at this time also the other children in the house know what happened to this child as far as the abuse dont tell me that your sibling goes missing and you have no idea about when or why or how and you live there they may not have been old enough then but they are old enough now not to worry about the actions of what the parents may do to them

Native Texan said:
Adam's adoptive parents were interviewed on Larry King Live last night. The mother had come from a very abusive home and according to her they took Adam away for fear she would repeat the abuse.

*** I am so tired of people using the " I was abused as a child excuse". You know it is wrong so why does every criminal say this? Just because YOUR parents abused you does not give you a reason to hurt anyone. Regardless of what happened in your past you must take responsibilty for your actions. Too many people are let off the hook because of this excuse. This case reminds me of that book "A Child Called It". Where the mother abuses the one kid in the family and the father watches and does nothing. I hope the truth comes out soon and Adam has some justice.

As far as I know the only people that have been on Larry King were the biological parents. The state used the fact that the bio mom had been severely abused by her father.

LB,
I was referring to the biological mother of Adam, she said she lost custody of him because of her past and the state's concern that it would be repeated, which in itself is absurd because the home Adam was placed in was obviously lethal.
Thanks to everyone for writing to the Kansas Attorney General. Of course there has been no response from them.
I am worried this case is going to drop off of the radar. I am disappointed that Nancy Grace has not even covered this story, but had a story on tonight about another missing child from Saturday, of course they all need publicity but Adam's case is so severe it cannot be ignored.
We the people need to keep it going until justice is done.

I've only just heard about this boy on DR.Phil today.
I don't watch much TV and do not have cable. Any how I've been searching and reading about Adam since I got home. I see many fingers being pointed. I don't think homeschooling is bad if that is something a parent has the patience for. I do question, were the other kids home shcooled? if not thay might be a red flag. Also My girls are 11 and there is no way I would ever even consider it okay for them to be cold, hungry, and alone on the streets. I would look in every face to see if that might be my child. I would go to the streets and the shelters to search if my girls ran away. I would use the law, the internet, and my will to search every moment for my child even if they simply ran away.
I pray Adam is found alive, but to me it sounds like a cover by his adoptive parents. They continued to receive a monthly check and EIC on their taxes. I suppose if you can prove nothing else there is the tax fraud. I guess money wins with this couple.
I must also say that as an adoptive parent you are expected to love a child as your own. Why would any one check on them the supposedly loved this child and wanted him. No one checks on bio parent, to check for abuse after they leave the hospital unless abuse is suspected by a manditory reporter, or reported by a concearned person.
I was condenmed by a neighbor when I called
to report suspected abuse to her child. It does make it hard when anonimous is not anonimous. I would do it again though there is no excuse for any person to look the other way. If I saw anyone even my husband abuse a child or an animal I would call. That's not true if I saw if I would probably try to help that being, then call.
That is so stupid that the abuse wasn't reported 10 years ago. Now we can only try to keep hope and pray that there is justice in what ever way for the monster parents.

These cases make my stomach turn. I read about Caylee and Ricky Holland's case as well and it's just so disgusting! My stomach turned when I read about Ricky and the kind of abuse he had to endure. It's tragic. Our poor babies!

I have not heard or seen that Nancy Grace has aired this on her show. If people would write in and request it to be on her show, then maybe there would be more of an investigation in regards to this case and make people aware of what is happening in our society.

I just posted a comment on Nancy Graces, CNN site, which I am hoping for a response. If you go to CNN site and look for Nancy Grace, you will be able to post a comment.

Thank you and hopefully this case can be solved.

I was hoping there was some new info. Is there some news out there I missed. I guess it gets lost between J. Simpson gaining a healthy weight, and some mom with 14 kids on walefare. I hope that this does pick up again so we can all know the truth. Where is this boy??????

NOTHING SHOCKS ME WHEN IT COMES TO WHAT OCCURS IN THE U.S TODAY! HOW CAN ONE CLAIM TO BE WORRIED AFTER 10 OR 11 YEARS OF SILENCE, THE PARENTS SHOULD BE CONVICTED IMMEDIATLEY,NOW OF DAYS ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE, EVEN GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER I SUPPOSE! NO ONE CARED OR LISTENED TO YOUNG ADAM'S CRIES, THAT IN ITSELF SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A CRIME. WE SHOULD ENFORCE DEATH PENALTY'S AND HARSHER PUNISHMENT'S FOR INDIVIDUALS AND TRASH THAT YOUNG ADAM'S LIFE UNFORTUNATLEY FELL PREY TO. MY HEART IS HEAVY!

HELP THEM FIND HIM!

I am saddened to see this case falling on the back burner. Somebody has to know something legit about this poor boy and what happened 10 years ago. The question is.. is he alive today, or isn't he? I'm sure all the people interested would like to think he is. I hope something happens with this case just to give this boy some sort of justice.

This has to do with the state of kansas, I myself was in foster care when i was a teenager so i know how it works and it's not good. I was in a foster home with my infant son and the foster so called mother was abusing my son and she would not let me no where near my son so the first time she put her hands on my son i punched her and tryed to get my son out of their but was unable to so when i ran away i let myself get caught by the police just so that i could tell the judge what was going on so i was picked up on an assult charge and went before the judge and i was asked how i plead and i said guilty and the judge said that since i was the first ever in his court room to plead guilty he said that he had to know why so i told him about the foster mom abusing my son and another baby that was in her care so the judge was pissed off he told the state that they are in big trouble and demanded that the foster mom have her lience take away for good and to never have any more children in her home and was told that they are to remove any other children in the home well finaly me and my son got to go back home to my moms we both where in her custdy and some how the state still ended up leting the foster mom adopt the other baby . And me and my son where in and out of state custdy for years I never got the chance to be a mother to my son and one time when the state found out that my mom had a felony charge the state removed my son from her care and placed him with his other grandma whom i made her let me see my son when ever i wanted so that way if he's being abused in any way that i was going to be their to make sure that it did not happen again so by the time my son was seven years old i'd already had three more kids that wa living with me so one day i called my son's grandma and told her to bring my son to me because i wanted to spend some time with him so she brings him to me and he ran to me and i picked him up to give him a big hug and he yelled aww mommy your hurting me and so i put him down and i said what where does it hurt and he pointed to his private area and i asked his grandma what happened and she said i did not know so she left realy quick and so i had my son show me where he was hurting at and when he showed me i freaked out and said oh my god who did this to you and he said grandpa witch is not his real granpa so i got my son in the car and i went over their to there house and i said what the fuck are you doing to my son and i let them know that i was reporting them to the state and when i did the state said ahh grandparents don't do stuff like that, I said bull shit so i went back to his grandmothers and demanded her to come with me to report this and she came and finaly the state steped in [ So unless you've been in state care and or exsperinced this stuff for your self then you can not assume that the state in all good because it's not] I've tryed for years to get my son but was told the same thing and that was because i had him when i was young , I mean come on . So after my son entered the state system for the last time the state told me that if i don't sign my rights away to my son that they where going to come in to my home and take my three kids away from me [I mean what the hell have i ever done to those damn people] Well i finaly agreed to sign my rights away because i did not want my other kids exsposed to that kind of shit and once i signed my rights away and one day not long after the state shows up at my door telling me that they are taking my kids . I mean after all i did to get my son out of some realy bad homes they had now come to take my kids away from me . Now i had to do what i could to protect my other kids from the state and foster care well on one visit with my children one of my kids where not their so i asked my second born son i said wheres ???? and he said that the foster mom would not let him come because the bitch has been beating him to make him go to sleep because he was crying he wants to come home mommy i said what oh hell no i said did you tell jill the srs worker and he said no and so i walked him over to tell jill and jill said that she was going to have it investgated well one day at a meeting i found out that the state was puting my kids up for adoption and everyone around the table interduced them selves and why they where their and this bitch said who she was and that she wanted to adopt my kids i stood up so fast and said alot of things to that bitch that i meant and came to find out that jill the srs worker never even reported the crime to the person above her and that worker appeared to be shocked about it And they had called the security on me thinking they where going to calm me down .
Anyways my point is the state gets away with everything i have never in my life abused my children in any way shape or form and yet they put my children in a world of danger all because they can not get over me having a child at a young age all of my children have to suffer . By the way the same bitch that put her hands on my son is the same one that adoptd them and it is an open adoption . I guess they think that it would make it better that way. But you can be sure that i do know where they live even though the adopted parents don't know that , And i do ride by their and check on my kids with out any of them knowing it .
We as real parents have to do what ever it takes to protect our children . One letter from my kids my son told me that i was the cooliest mom in the world and all three of my children can't wait to see me when they are 18 .
Update on my oldest son My son had graduated from school and is now in the marines he tryed to contact me the night before he had to go for bootcamp last year and i was so disapointed that i missed his call but one day we will reunite once he is on his feet and out on his own . And my second born son will be 18 next year and i can not wait to hug my children and more inportantly i can not wait to have all of my children all of us togather .
One more thing the assult charge was thrown out.
And i pray to god that the adams boy's adoptive parents get the death penalty die die you fuckers low lifes.

Well it is almost September now, and the news media outlets have not reported anything on this poor boy since January. It seems people have moved on and lost interest. How sad. I for one still want to know what happened to this little angel. Will this ever see its day in court?

Be sure that if the Herrmanns had not received their checks on time, they would have been a lot more concerned than they were about Adam. They filed all their paperwork diligently.
How they squared their consciences while looking at their other children, knowing, at best, that Adam was out there alone, and at worst that he was disposed of like so much trash---it's unspeakable. I haven't been able to find anything new on this. The 'parents' should at least be jailed for fraud; maybe Doug H will roll on his wife. That is one heartless, pitiless woman; but she wasn't alone in abandoning this child.