Iowa Couple Who Purposely Starved Adopted Black Children Only Receives Probation

An Iowa couple received probation (an no prison time) Thursday after accepting a plea deal for keeping their two adopted African children in a room with little access to food and a bucket for a toilet.

KCCI 8 reports:

Court documents filed Thursday said Kelly Fry, 40, and Kenneth Fry, 42, received two years of probation. Each must pay a $12,500 civil penalty, and each must complete 100 hours of community service.

They were charged with child endangerment, child endangerment causing bodily injury and neglect or abandonment of a dependent person.

The two accepted a plea deal in May. As part of the deal, they pleaded guilty to two counts of child endangerment.

Annette Cox, a neighbor to the Frys, reported the couple after seeing their adopted children locked out of the home and crying on a freezing day in January 2018.

According to court documents, the 8- and 9-year-old were adopted from Ghana. They shared a room that was lined in plastic and had alarms on the door.

The children told authorities they were required to spend the majority of their time in their room and had to eat oatmeal for every meal.

“The Clarke County Attorney did not make this recommendation lightly but presented the matter to a local grand jury and has a unique grasp of this complicated and difficult case,” court documents said.

On July 18, the judge was presented with approximately 500 new documents in the case, forcing a delay.

Some of the documents filed were letters of support for Kelly Fry, explaining she had no prior convictions, had a solid education and work history, had been involved in community activities and had engaged in family and personal counseling prior to the charges.

Kelly Fry’s counselor’s notes on her progress state: “Another strength of this family is that Kelly continues to ask and seek help from professionals… Kelly continues to seek help with other professionals.”

Documents said counselors believed the couple were uncertain how to assist with their adopted children’s behavioral issues.

“I do think they did not know how to find a therapist especially skilled at treating [reactive attachment disorder]; had the children been treated by a therapist with the training to deal with this disorder, things would have turned out much differently,” said a counselor.

There were more than 250 letters of support filed for Kelly Fry, explaining she was a mother who loved her children and sought help for the behaviors of the two adopted children.

“This is about a young couple who got in over their heads in a failed adoption, made poor decisions and didn’t get the help when they needed it, at least not the right help,” said the Clarke County attorney.

Separate from the plea deal, the couple has relinquished their parental rights of the two children.

There is absolutely NO excuse for this couple to have these babies suffer the way they did. If these criminals weren’t sure how to care for children, then they shouldn’t have been allowed to adopt them.

But how come their biological children weren’t neglected in this manner? Their other five children had typical bedrooms that looked nothing out of the normal. So it seems like they were well taken care of.

On top of that, Kelly Fry tried to put the blame on the two Ghana children for using the buckets and not the bathrooms.

Something smells fishy.

Hopefully, the two precious little ones find a loving home. They deserve it, as well as REAL justice!