Candace Newmaker

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Candace Elizabeth Newmaker (19 November 1989 — 18 April 2000) was a victim of child abuse and suffocated during a 70-minute treatment session supposedly to treat reactive attachment disorder.

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[edit] History

She was born Candace Tiara Elmore in Lincolnton, North Carolina to Angela and Todd Elmore, a teenage mother and alcoholic father with a petty criminal history. When she was five years old, she and her younger brother and sister were taken away by social services and separated. On 14 June 1996, Candace was adopted by a Durham woman, Jeane Elizabeth Newmaker, a pediatric nurse practitioner. While in Durham, she enjoyed life and embraced her new opportunities. She remained for awhile in contact with a brother and sister, and occasionally talked about her biological family to friends and neighbors.

Within months of the adoption, Jeane Newmaker began taking Candace to a psychiatrist, complaining about her behavior and attitude at home. Although Candace was diagnosed, and treated with medications, Jeane reported that Candace's behaviors got worse during the ensuing two years, including playing with matches and killing goldfish.[1]

[edit] Therapy at Watkins' Home

Candace and Jeane Newmaker travelled to Connell Watkins' home in Evergreen, Colorado in April, 2000 after Jeane Newmaker scheduled a "ten-day intensive" treatment for Candace with Connell Watkins, who was not a licensed mental health professional. The cost of the "ten-day intensive" was $7,000.[1][2][3]

Candace died in the second week of the intensive with Watkins during a "rebirthing" session in Watkins' home in Evergreen. Participating in the fatal session was Watkins and Julie Ponder, both unlicensed mental health professionals at the time of Candace's death[2][3], Brita St Clair and Jack McDaniel, two unlicensed self-described "therapeutic foster parents" assigned to Candace by Watkins; and Jeanne Newmaker.[3]

Following the "rebirthing" script for that day's treatment, she was wrapped in a flannel sheet to simulate a womb and told to extract herself with the apparent expectation that the experience would help her "attach" to her adoptive mother. Four of the adults used their hands, feet, and large pillows to resist all her attempts to free herself, while she complain, pleaded, and even screamed for help and air. Candace stated several times during the session that she was dying, to which Watkins responded, "You want to die? OK, then die. Go ahead, die right now".[1] Twenty minutes into the session, Candace had vomited and urinated inside of the sheet; she was nonetheless kept restrained.[2]

Forty minutes into the session, Jeane asked Candace "Baby, do you want to be born?" Candace faintly responded "no"; this would ultimately be her last word. To this, Ponder replied, "Quitter, quitter, quitter, quitter! Quit, quit, quit, quit. She's a quitter!".[4]Jeanne, who later confessed that she had felt rejected by Candace's inability to be reborn, was asked by Watkin's to leave the room. Watkins explained that she didn't want Candace to "pick up on (Jeane's) sorrow". Soon therafter, Watkins requested the same of McDaniel and Brita St. Clair, leaving only herself and Ponder in the room with Candace. After talking for five minutes, the two unwrapped Candace and found that she was motionless, blue on the fingertips and lips, and not breathing. Upon seeing this, Watkins declared, "Oh there she is, she's sleeping in her vomit." Jeane Newmaker had been watching on a monitor in another room and sensed anxiety in Watkins' voice. She rushed into the room, saw that Candace was blue, and began CPR while Watkins called 9-1-1. When paramedics arrived ten minutes later, McDaniel told them that Candace had been left alone for five minutes during a rebirthing session and was not breathing. The paramedics surmised that Candace had been unconscious and possibly not breathing for some time. After paramedics restored Cadace's pulse, she was flown to a children's hospital and declared brain-dead the next day. The doctor noted that she was smothered and died of Asphyxia.[1][2][5]

The entire process, as well as ten hours of other sessions from the preceding week, was videotaped with the intention of making a training video. The videos were shown at trial.[6][3]

[edit] Convictions

A year later, Watkins and Ponder, both unlicensed mental health professionals in Colorado, were tried and convicted of reckless child abuse resulting in death and received 16-year prison sentences. Brita St. Clair and Jack McDaniel, the unlicensed "therapeutic foster parents," pleaded guilty to criminally negligent child abuse and were given ten years' probation and 1000 hours of community service in a plea bargain.[7][8] The adoptive mother, Jeanne Newmaker, a nurse practitioner, pled guilty to neglect and abuse charges and was given a four-year suspended sentence, after which the charges were expunged from her record.[6]

The advocacy group, Advocates for Children in Therapy has stated that it was involved in the prosecution of this case. The group reports that its three leaders (Jean Mercer, Larry Sarner, and Linda Rosa) were directly involved in prosecution of the Candace Newmaker case. "All three authors assisted the prosecution in the “rebirthing” trial that resulted in historic 16-year sentences for therapists Connell Watkins and Julie Ponder." [9]

[edit] Effects

The story of her death made headlines, appearing in Raleigh-Durham's The News and Observer, Denver's Rocky Mountain News, USA Today among others.

The case generated enduring controversy about "rebirthing" [1] and was the motivation behind "Candace's Law" in Colorado and North Carolina, that outlaws "rebirthing" involving restraint.[10] [11] The US House of Representatives and Senate have separately passed resolutions urging similar actions in other states.[12]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Crowder and Lowe. Her name was Candace, Denver Rocky Mountain News, October 29, 2000
  2. ^ a b c d Siegen, Barry. Seeking Child's Love, a Child's Life is Lost, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4 Feb 2001, p A1,A22-A24
  3. ^ a b c d Auge, Karen. Alternative therapies not new in Evergreen, Denver Post June 17, 2000
  4. ^ Christopher Caldwell, Colorado rebirthers convicted, Weekly Standard, 28 May 2001, 6(35):20ff
  5. ^ Gillan, Audrey. Cuddles that Kill, Guardian Unlimited, June 20, 2001.
  6. ^ a b Candace Elizabeth Newmaker, Advocates for Children in Therapy, Retrieved October, 2006
  7. ^ Mindy Sink. Rockies: Colorado: Probation In Suffocation Death, New York Times October 5, 2001
  8. ^ Nicholson, Kieran. Rebirthing aides to plead to lesser charges in death, Denver Post August 2, 2001
  9. ^ New Book Examines AT, Advocates for Children in Therapy, 30 May 2003
  10. ^ Sarner, Larry. "Rebirthers" Who Killed Child Receive 16-Year Prison terms, June 19, 2001.
  11. ^ http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_14/gs_14-401.21.html
  12. ^ Senate Condemns Rebirthing Techniques, Women's Policy, Volume 10, No. 68, ISSN 1526-8713

[edit] External links

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