The amazing rescue of Beth: a girl who went to hell (5 photos + 2 videos)

Beth Thomas is the heroine of the documentary film "Child of Fury". In the frame we see a cute girl answering the doctor’s questions in a bored voice. When the doctor asks her why she stole the knives from the kitchen, she calmly replies: “To kill her brother, mom and dad.” Monster? Or a child who couldn't cope with what she went through?





She was the daughter of adoptive parents Julie and Pastor Tim Tennett. Adoption rules in the United States state that adoptive parents are not interested in the background of children taken into the family. The couple did not know what happened in the past of Beth and her brother Jonathan. When the time came to get serious about this, the adoption agency remained stubbornly silent, citing confidentiality. But we still had to find out, because little Beth behaved more than unconventionally for her age: she constantly mocked her brother, strangled him, hit his head on the concrete floor of the basement, and stabbed his genitals with needles. At night, Beth suffered from terrible nightmares and... often touched herself, even in public places, despite the fact that her mother talked to her and told her that this was a very private activity and should not be done in public. Not to mention that at the age of six, children quite rarely begin to consciously explore themselves in this way. The actions were compulsive, the girl brought herself to bleeding.



Beth and Jonathan

The Tennets were forced to lock Beth in her room at night because whenever she was left unattended, she would go into her brother's room and abuse him. One day my mother showed her a nest with chicks that had hatched in their yard, and the next day all the chicks were lying on the ground with broken necks.

Frightened parents immediately turned to doctors, who initially diagnosed her with symptoms of psychopathy, believing that it was congenital. But when Tim talked about Beth's dreams where a man "came to her" and fell on her and then hurt "a part of himself," doctors realized the girl was exhibiting behavior that resembled a defense mechanism.

And only while working with doctors it became clear that the children came to the Tennet family literally from hell. The children's mother died a few weeks after giving birth to Jonathan. Beth was only one year old when she and her brother were left alone with their biological father.



Beth and Jonathan with their adoptive parents

What he did with his children could hardly be called the behavior of a caring dad. It is clear that the girl, who was still a toddler, was constantly subjected to physical and sexualized abuse. When Beth was two years old, the family received a visit from child care. The father couldn't even tell what was wrong with his son - the back of Jonathan's head was completely flat, and his forehead, on the contrary, was too convex. This was due to the fact that he was lying on his back in his crib all the time.

Beth continued to be asked questions, from which it became clear that she could not be diagnosed with congenital psychopathy. It was reactive attachment disorder - it occurs due to neglect and abuse. Children with RAD simply cannot form attachments, they completely lack empathy, and their behavior is antisocial.

Sexual abuse may not always lead to a personality disorder, but it can be something of a trigger. Much in the mental reaction depends on health, family well-being, age and the presence of constant stress.

The little person does not fully understand what is being done to him, he does not know how to talk about it, and, accordingly, he cannot “work through” the injury. And then, in order not to break, he isolates his feelings. What it looks like:

he is closed;

learned helplessness manifests itself;

the child begins to blame himself, feeling “dirty;

tries to seduce both peers and adults;

When a child reaches adolescence, he may begin to engage in self-harm (self-harm) and use alcohol and substances. Beth behaved completely unpredictably. It was impossible to predict the next time she would make her aggressive attack. Clinical psychologist Ken Magid began working with Beth and his voice can be heard in the documentary Child of Fury. He also suggested that the exhausted Tennets temporarily stop living with Beth and transfer her to specialists for treatment.

In the last minutes of this video you can see how much Beth has changed after therapy. She learned to distinguish good from bad, she really felt bad about the pain she caused her family.

Beth was sent to a special school where sheChildren with various mental disorders were restless. Psychiatrist Connel Watkins decided to choose attachment therapy: the child had to ask permission for any action (take an apple, open the door, look out the window, etc.) and be under constant supervision. There was a lock and alarm on the door of her room to prevent her from sneaking out at night to hurt other children. Slowly but surely, Beth learned to interact with people, and in return she received some concessions, she was praised, supported and treated kindly. Not indifferent and violent, as it was in her biological family, and not tense and frightened, as in the adopted one. This is how the little girl, who, let me remind you, was only six years old, learned to accept love. And this method worked. Beth abandoned her terrible plans to kill her foster family and learned to control her emotions.

What's wrong with Beth now?



After several years of working with a psychiatrist, Beth was sent to an ordinary school, she began to sing in the church choir and, most importantly, learned to believe and trust people.

After graduating from school, the girl completed nursing courses. She lives in Arizona and has a husband. Beth works in the neonatal intensive care unit. That is, she works where, like nowhere else, compassion and empathy are needed.

This is a unique case - a seemingly irreparable situation that crippled her life was resolved. Everything coincided - a loving foster family who did not give up on her, an attending physician. Many psychiatrists, by the way, still believe that Beth is “pretending”, that she is simply mimicking society, but if some trigger happens, she will still manifest herself.

Well. Let's hope for the best and wish Beth good luck!