Should Self-Proclaimed "Re-birthers" Be Allowed To Adopt?

Via Susie @ Suburban Guerilla, Pam's House Blend raises the question in the light of new revelations about a born-again couple accused of sexually abusing children under their supervision at a "Christian" center, and whom they later adopted, apparently for the purposes of CONTINUING the abuse.

Oh, did I mention the two were formerly associated with and parted on amicable terms with Pat Robertson's "university?" Oh, yeah.

Former assistant dean at Pat Robertson's Regent Univ and his wife plead guilty to child sex abuse

And the story just gets sordider and sordider. From the Hampton Roads Pilot:

Stephen McPherson and his wife, Melina, doted on the three teenage sisters at Hope Haven Children's Home.

The couple, house parents at the Christian-based community in Virginia Beach during the late 1990s, treated the girls to dinner and movies. They gave gifts, allowed the girls to stay up later than other children and took them along on vacation.

They also preyed on them.

Court records show the McPhersons manipulated the teens into submitting to fondling, kissing and other sex acts. They cited Bible verses that they said justified the abuse and, afterward, would pray together for God's forgiveness.

On Wednesday, the McPhersons admitted in separate hearings in Virginia Beach Circuit Court to committing the crimes. Stephen McPherson, a former assistant dean at Regent University, pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with two of the girls; his wife pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with the third girl.

This is NOT Stevie's first venture into these waters:

Stephen McPherson, 40, already is serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted of similar charges in Chesapeake. He pleaded guilty in January to forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration stemming from incidents involving two of the girls in his Chesapeake home.

The McPhersons adopted the three sisters after leaving Hope Haven in 2000 and moving to Chesapeake, according to court records. Melina McPherson, 37, was not charged in Chesapeake.

In Virginia Beach, the couple agreed to plead guilty in exchange for light prison sentences. Stephen McPherson's plea agreement called for him to serve three years in prison. The agreement for Melina McPherson called for her to serve 40 days in jail. Both must register as sex offenders and must have no unsupervised contact with minors, except for their two sons.

Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey Bryant said there was no indication that either McPherson would abuse their natural sons. The victims weren't pushing for jail time, Bryant said, because they did not want to see the McPhersons' boys, ages 4 and 5, grow up without their parents.

It seems to me that the McPherson kids would be better off if they were put on an orphan train and sent to Nebraska.
But mebbe that's just me?