Beth Thomas looked like a little angel when she appeared in a documentary at just six years old. But when this beautiful little child announced to her psychologist in an expressionless television interview that she wanted to stab her adoptive parents and brother to death in their sleep, the public shuddered.
Uncontrollable rage
The documentary was televised in 1990 and was called Child of Rage.
It was clear to everyone that little Beth had experienced something terrible that had created this uncontrollable rage that lived inside her.
Beth and her younger brother Jonathan were born into dire circumstances.
Their mother died when they were babies and their father then began to sexually abuse them. The siblings were neglected and starved and eventually removed from the home permanently by the authorities. Beth was 19 months old then.
So the siblings were placed in foster care and then adopted by a married couple, Pastor Tim and his wife Julie.
Tim and Julie adopted siblings.
Hurt his little brother
Beth was then diagnosed with severe attachment disorder, a rare but serious syndrome in which a child is unable to form a healthy, normal relationship with a caregiver. Or usually several.
Beth’s relationship trouble stems from the relentless abuse she had to endure at the hands of her own father. Beth couldn’t feel a connection, let alone love, for a human being. Not even his brother’s color.
She pricked him with needles, hit him and made sexual advances to him, which she had no doubt witnessed at the home of her biological parents.
Beth also killed birds and chicks she found in her foster parents’ yard, tortured the family dog, and constantly thought about murdering her foster parents and stabbing her brother in his sleep, preferably with a large knife.
She also hurt herself.
Beth looked like an angel but just wanted to kill
Jonathan, Beth’s little brother, was seriously injured when Beth banged his head repeatedly against the concrete floor in hopes of killing him.
I had to lock up Beth
Tim and Julie said they had to resort to locking him in his room at night. They, and the experts they spoke to, thought there was a real chance that Beth, despite being just six years old, would follow through on her threat.
Children don’t usually begin to feel true empathy until around age seven, but children who have experienced the kind of abuse Beth had to endure may never feel empathy, trust or remorse. .
Beth with Nancy, her godmother.
Too dangerous
Beth was ultimately deemed too dangerous to live with the family. Tim and Julie therefore terminated the adoption, claiming that they lacked the ability, stamina and knowledge to care for this sick child.
In the following years, Beth navigates between institutions and specialists, for a long time without success. But then she managed to connect with one of the psychologists, and after less than a year of therapy, Beth stopped hurting herself and others and deeply regretted hurting her little brother.
Beth was again adopted, this time by a woman named Nancy Thomas, who had fostered over 100 children, most of whom were emotionally disturbed, and she adopted three, including Beth.
Beth Thomas
Beth today
Beth gradually transformed into a happy child who could express her feelings. She was never to display violent behavior again. She did very well in school and later went on to study nursing.
She specialized in breastfeeding premature babies and has been working in this field since 2005.
Beth Thomas is now a happily married mother. She wrote two books with her adoptive mother about attachment disorder in children and how she managed to create a happy life for herself, despite a scary childhood.
She also occasionally lectures and is a consultant in the treatment of children with severe attachment disorders.
Here you can see the documentary, which includes, among other things, the interview with six-year-old Beth
