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Las Vegas • A Las Vegas woman who published a book on foster care deprived her three adopted daughters of food when they wet the bed, refused to let them go to the bathroom, and beat them with a stick, according to court documents.
Janet Solander, 53, was charged Wednesday with multiple counts of child abuse and sexual assault. Her husband Dwight Solander, 50, and her daughter Danielle Hinton, 21, were also charged with abuse.
They are in Clark County jail pending an April 8 preliminary hearing. Messages seeking comment were left Thursday for the Solanders' attorney, Craig Mueller, and Hinton's attorney, Michael Morey.
According to police reports, the three girls, ages 9, 11 and 12, are sisters who were placed in foster care with the Solanders in 2010 and adopted in early 2011. The Solanders also took care of four foster children who were removed Feb. 27 amid allegations of physical risk, authorities said.
After the foster children were removed, Child Protective Services officials learned the three sisters had been sent to a boarding school in Florida.
When case workers contacted the girls, they reported persistent abuse and said they feared their mother would kill them if they returned to Las Vegas, the report said.
Investigators said the three girls were forced to sleep on boards without sheets, blankets or pillows out of fear they would wet the bed. The girls told authorities their adoptive parents would make them wear their soiled underwear on their head or would stuff them in their mouth if they had an accident, and they made them use catheters.
Janet Solander imposed harsh punishments if the girls had a bathroom accident, sometimes withholding food from them for three days at a time, the girls told investigators. They also reported their mother doused them with ice water, and one girl had scars that apparently came from her mother pouring hot water on her.
Dwight Solander is accused of participating in the abuse, although he told investigators he only hit the girls with a wooden paint stick on one occasion. Hinton is also accused of hitting the girls with the stick, but she denied the claim in an interview with police.
Janet Solander is the author of "Foster Care: How to Fix this Corrupted System," which is self-published through iUniverse and appears on Amazon.com and other websites. It describes behavioral issues among foster children.
"The easiest and most defiant way for a child to vent is by urinating or defecating in his or her pants on the bed," the book says. "This is where the rage could start for foster parents."