An Asian-American couple is outraged at their three-year prison sentence for the death of their 8-year-old adopted child.
Matthew and Grace Huang were arrested January 2013 in Qatar for allegedly starving their adopted Ghana-born daughter, Gloria, to death. The couple was released in November 2013, but forbidden to leave the country until the conclusion of their trial.
Prosecutors alleged the Huangs starved the child and locked her in her room for days at a time. When they took her to a hospital, she was pronounced dead. The couple blames Gloria’s self-starvation and binging as the cause of death.
Gloria was severely malnourished in early childhood, according to her adoptive parents. She would occasionally refuse food for days at a time, then binge eat or get food from bizarre sources, such as garbage cans or from strangers. This behavior was traced to her impoverished upbringing.
Gloria allegedly would try to leave the house at night in search of food and pick through the medicine cabinet on late-night binges, according to a report prepared last year in the U.S. by Janice Ophoven, a pediatric forensic specialist.
When Gloria died, she was in an anorexic episode and had not eaten in as many as four days, says the report.
The case has raised questions of people adopting children and being incompatible with their culture. The Huangs adopted two other Africa-born children, now living with relatives in the U.S.
Matthew Huang calls the allegations “ridiculous,” and even called on President Barack Obama to help explain to Qatar’s ruler “why American families adopt high need children.”
The Huangs plan to appeal the verdict, which could take six months to a year.
[Homepage image: Shutterstock]