Homeschooling’s 

Invisible Children

10 children of Sharon and Reed Leonard

Content note: Case narratives include descriptions of severe violence inflicted on children, including abuse and neglect, sexual violence, torture, and murder, as well as mentions of suicide and domestic violence. They also include photos of victims and perpetrators of violence.

sharon and reed leonard house

Sharon Leonard struck her ten adopted children with a paddle or other objects, including a plastic pipe, a metal rod and a snow-removal brush. The children told investigators that Sharon had threatened to kill a couple of the boys. They also reported that six of them had been made to stay outside the Leonards’ home from time to time and to sleep in calf huts and the detached box trailer of a truck. The children were adopted from Ethiopia and China. Four of the Ethiopian children were siblings adopted together, and the other three were obtained through disrupted adoptions. One of the three children from China was also obtained through a disruption. The children were homeschooled through a virtual charter school, and their abuse was discovered when one of the children reported it to a teacher. Sharon and and her husband Reed were charged with misdemeanor child endangerment, and Sharon was also charged with felony child abuse, which was later reduced to a misdemeanor.

Date: September 18, 2010
Location:
Neosho, Missouri

Documents: Date:
Notes
An Ethiopian Adoption Story
FAMILY A TRAILBLAZER IN VIRTUAL CHARTER SCHOOL 2005-09-25
Hope Reaches Africa 2006-01-12
AAI | News & Info – Kids Helping Kids 2006-04-01
ADOPTING WHEN OTHERS CANNOT 2008-04-01
Sun Prairie Family Adopts 10 Children, Advocates For Adoption 2008-11-03
Newton County couple’s custody of 10 foreign children in jeopardy 2010-09-18
Prosecutor: Felony child-abuse charge likely to be reduced for Neosho woman 2011-03-07
Obituary Donald Joseph Brancato (Sharon Leonard’s father) [private note] 2012-10-09