Adoptive Parents Use Faith To Help Abused Twins
COLLIN COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - Two boys rescued from one of the country's most severe cases of child abuse are now living in North Texas. They endured torture by electric shock and hammers, nearly starved and locked in a closet in a house in Florida for nearly seven years. The children survived and were rescued after a doctor in an emergency room noticed red marks around one of the oldest children's neck.
Twin boys, Alex and Andrew Shevlin, 19, have been adopted by a family in Collin County.
"We can sit back now and say it's just been a huge blessing for our entire family" says David Shevlin, the adopted father of the boys.
David and Tracey Shevlin adopted the twins five years ago and the family is telling their story now, for the first time, exclusively to CBS 11 News. The Shevlin's want others to know how caring families can make a positive difference in a young person's life, through adoption.
ALEX AND ANDREW'S STORY
Alex, Andrew and three of their siblings were abused by the people who were supposed to protect them: John and Linda Dollar, their first adoptive parents. The Dollars are now in prison in Florida serving a 15-year sentence after pleading no contest to Aggravated Child Abuse.
"They never experienced birthdays or Christmas's or going out to eat or just anything that a normal family gets to do" says Tracey Shevlin, Alex and Andrew's adopted mother.
The children were abused inside a house in Citrus County, Florida until early 2005 when one of the older children fell and injured his head while trying to run away. Neighbors say they didn't know the Dollars had children.
When they were rescued Alex and Andrew each weighed less than 40 pounds. They were 14-years-old at the time.
The boys say when they tried to sneak food to eat the Dollars struck their feet with hammers and shocked them with a cattle prod. The extremely painful torture included having their toenails removed with pliers.
"If we tried to sneak out and get food, that's when it really turned major" says Andrew Shevlin. "Being abused and having our finger nails and our toe nails ripped off and just electrocuted" were part of the routine inflicted by the Dollars, he says.
Alex and Andrew say the Dollars also kept them bound with chains.
"We would talk in the closet about being free" says Andrew. "And just how much of a miracle it would be to experience a real family."
When law enforcement officials issued arrest warrants for the Dollars, John and Linda Dollar fled.
"They knew that they were about to get in trouble" says Andrew.
A nation-wide manhunt took place and the Dollars were arrested. Andrew says at first the children hesitated to tell what happened inside the Dollar's house. But slowly the children learned to trust police and social workers who listened to the horror they endured.
"Me and my twin brother, we were the first to come clean" says Andrew.
ALEX AND ANDREW MEET THE SHEVLINS
When David and Tracey Shevlin lived in Florida, they already had three children of their own, but they wanted to adopt a child. At first they believed it would be a young child. When they arrived at an event designed to introduce prospective parents to children available for adoption, the rooms with the babies, toddlers and young children were too crowded for the Shevlin's to go in. "The smaller kids, the babies, that's where all the parents were" says David Shevlin.
So they moved to the rooms with the older children. That's where they met Alex and Andrew, who were 15. David Shevlin says there was an immediate connection. And the Shevlin's children also bonded with Alex and Andrew.
"Andrew is my best friend" says 15-year-old Sierra Shevlin. "He's never seemed like he was not my real brother. He is my best friend and he always will be" she says.
"This is as close to perfect as you can get, I feel" says Andrew.
David and Tracey Shevlin say they've worked through the rough times. There has been a lot of counseling and their adopted sons have learned to live by new, sensible rules. David Shevlin says it was difficult for the boys to go to the kitchen to eat what they were hungry at first. And Alex has thrived by participating and later becoming a leader in a Christian youth program in San Antonio called Teen Challenge.
Both boys also credits his faith in God for his survival and their adoption by the Shevlins. "I think it's a gift from God to be able to show someone something that I wasn't given" says Andrew.
ADOPTING OLDER CHILDREN
The Shevlins says they want to tell their story so other families would know more about adopting older children.
"No matter what kind of baggage came with it, we were going to take it on and do the very, very best we could with it" says David Shevlin.
According to Texas Child Protective Services as of September 2010 there were 5,838 children waiting to be adopted state-wide. Of those, 2,391 are between the ages of 10 and 17. C.P.S. says nationwide just over 114,000 children are awaiting adoption. November is National Adoption Month and CPS is participating in an event to be held November 20th, where children from Dallas, Fort Worth, Collin and Denton Counties will have their adoptions finalized.
"There's older kids out there that need homes" says David Shevlin.
At the end of September, there were:
5,838 Children awaiting adoption in Texas.
2, 391 Children ages 10-17 awaiting adoption in Texas.
999 Children awaiting adoption in North Texas (Dallas, Tarrant and surrounding counties).
328 Children ages 10-17 awaiting adoption in North Texas.
Slightly over 114,000 children are awaiting adoption nationwide.
November is National Adoption Month. It culminates in National Adoption Day which is always the Saturday before Thanksgiving. On November 20, CPS will be participating in National Adoption Day events held in Dallas, Fort Worth, Collin County and Denton finalizing the adoptions of dozens of foster kids.
For more info on National Adoption Month
http://www.nationaladoptionday.org/
For more info on how to become an adoptive parent for a foster child
http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Protection/services.asp
