Twenty problems with 20/20's coverage of the Justin Harris 'rehoming'

Last night, ABC aired its six-months-in-the-making "20/20" special on the Justin and Marsha Harris adoption and rehoming, a story that the Arkansas Times originally broke in March. Afterwards, I got a succinct message from Jan Wallis, the former Department of Human Services adoption specialist interviewed by Elizabeth Vargas, the program’s anchor.

"I was disappointed with 20/20!” Wallis wrote.

I was too. The show didn’t present the Harrises as victims, as we first worried it might attempt to do, but Vargas and her team all but ignored what may be the most important part of this entire ordeal — the question of Rep. Justin Harris’ influence over decision making within DHS. I say this may be the most important piece because there are thousands of other children in the state who are right now in the care of DHS’ Division of Children and Family Services. The agency’s integrity is not an academic question, but one that has urgent ramifications for every family that interacts with the child welfare system.

Moreover, Wallis told me in a phone conversation that she told 20/20 on camera what she confirmed for me back in March: That Cecile Blucker, the DCFS director, had exerted pressure on the Harrises’ behalf to make this ill-conceived adoption happen in the first place. ABC did not include that footage.

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http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2015/10/24/twenty-problems-with-20-20s-coverage-of-the-justin-harris-rehoming