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Rebirthing Controversy

Killer 'Therapy'

More •Dr. Federici's Comments •'Rebirthing' References

The use of a "rebirthing" therapy that left a 10-year old North Carolina adoptee dead from asphyxiation has sparked controversy in the medical community and in the adoption community.

Justice Has Spoken

In June 2001, therapists Connell Watkins and Julie Ponder were convicted of reckless child abuse resulting in death and sentenced to 16 years in prison. On October 4, 2001, two others who worked with them, Brita St. Clair and Jack McDaniel, pleaded guilty to to criminally negligent child abuse resulting in death and were sentenced to 10 years' probation and 1,000 hours of community service. On October 11, 2001, Candace's adoptive mother, Jeane Newmaker, pleaded guilty to child abuse and was sentenced to 4 years of probation and 400 hours of community service. Wheat from Chaff

News reports, based on police affidavits, state that the controversial 'rebirthing' therapy was being performed because the girl, Candace Newmaker, was not bonding with her adoptive mother. The therapy was supposed to result in her being better able to form this bond.

There has been a lot of press about this case with opinions expressed by medical professionals, former clients of Connell Watkins, adoptive parents and, it appears, anyone else who agreed to be interviewed. Some basic facts:

• Connell Watkins was once affiliated with the Attachment Center at Evergreen, but left to open her own home office, which is where Candace was treated.
  
  
• Jeane Newmaker, Candace's mother, contracted with Connell Watkins & Assoc. for a two-week intensive program of attachment therapy.
  
  
• Those charged in the case are Connell Watkins and Julie Ponder, both unlicensed unregistered psychotherapists, business manager Brita St. Clair, Jack McDaniels who was working as an intern with Watkins and Ponder, and Candace's adoptive mother, Jeane Newmaker.
  
  
• "Rebirthing" is considered by many to be an alternative psychotherapy technique for treatment of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD).
  
  
• The name "Rebirthing" is also used for a circular breathing technique practiced by many that bears little resemblance to the treatment described in connection with Candace Newmaker.
  
  
• Information released about Candace Newmaker indicates that she had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), depression, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There hasn't been any report of a qualified diagnosis of RAD.

Reports based on a video-tape of Candace Newmaker's therapy session indicated that she was placed on the floor in the fetal position, wrapped head-to-toe in a flannel blanket (later court evidence showed this to be a flannel sheet) to represent the womb. Both ends of the sheet were twisted above her head and pillows were placed around her head. The four adults put pressure on the pillows in a simulation of labor contractions and Candace was told to fight her way out. Candace was recorded as saying she couldn't breathe, and after a period of 20 minutes when nothing was heard from her, she was unwrapped and found to be blue and covered in vomit. Because of the covering of her head, it appears no one had maintained visual contact.

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