Beth Thomas was just six, with piercing blue eyes and an angelic expression that looked like complete innocence.
Yet beneath the surface lurked a youngster whose disturbing emotional void and savage thoughts left those caring for her utterly bewildered.
In 1990, a documentary ‘Child of Rage’ was broadcast on television, exposing her terrifying tale through interviews with a psychologist.
Beth’s formative years were marked by unthinkable cruelty and, before she could even speak properly, she endured horrific sexual and physical violence inflicted by her biological father.
When she and her little brother, Jonathan, were finally taken from his custody, the psychological wounds had already cut devastatingly deep.
The programme showed Beth describing, with chilling detachment and complete emotional numbness, piercing her brother with pins and sexually abusing him, killing baby birds, and tormenting the family’s pet.
At one stage, she even revealed a scheme to fatally stab her adoptive parents, Tim and Julie, whilst they slept, reports the Mirror.
In another harrowing incident, her brother suffered serious harm when she repeatedly smashed his head against concrete flooring in a bid to kill him.
The documentary exposed how her parents were compelled to lock Beth inside her bedroom every evening in a desperate attempt to prevent whatever horrors she might commit.
The child showed no tears, formed no emotional connections with her family, and appeared to experience neither remorse nor terror. What she did experience, according to those surrounding her, was fury.
Diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder (RAD), Beth exhibited behaviour that left both her adoptive parents and medical professionals deeply alarmed.
Specialists cautioned that without proper treatment, Beth risked developing into a potentially hazardous adult.
RAD commonly impacts adopted youngsters, leaving their new families grappling with violent outbursts aimed at them and family pets, coupled with destructive impulses and self-harm – all rooted in their traumatic early life.
At first, Beth saw numerous psychiatrists who struggled unsuccessfully to develop her ability to feel compassion.
Her journey towards recovery only commenced when therapist Connell Watkins suggested attempting an experimental and controversial treatment method.
Her rigorous ‘behavioural modification’ programme placed severe restrictions on Beth, demanding she obtain permission for every activity and keeping her locked in her bedroom each night.
The technique delivered results, and within twelve months, Beth was able to live with others again, stopped inflicting harm upon herself, and showed authentic remorse for how she had treated her brother.
After the breakthrough therapy, Beth didn’t return to Tim and Julie and was instead placed with a new adoptive mother named Nancy Thomas. The duo later collaborated on a book called ‘More Than A Thread of Hope’.
They also founded a US company called Families By Design, helping other families cope with a child suffering from RAD. It boasts its most significant achievement is Beth herself – now a certified therapist – who has evolved from being “no longer a child of rage but an award-winning registered nurse and an amazing speaker”.
