Shraman Mitra
In 1997, an American couple, Crystal and Jesse, adopted a 9-year-old girl from Russia whom they named Caralee. However, quite unexpectedly, the couple soon ran into quite a few issues with the adoption and eventually sent the girl back to Russia. ’48 Hours: What Happened to the Perfect Child?’ chronicles Caralee’s experience after being sent back to Russia and even catches up with her to find out about her present whereabouts. If you are intrigued by this incident and want to find out more, we have you covered.
What Happened to Caralee?
When Crystal and Jesse came across Caralee for the first time on a Russian adoption website, they got in touch with adoption agent Nina Kostina, who arranged for the couple to meet Caralee in the small town of Borovichi in Novgorod Oblast, Russia, in 1997. Besides, at the time of adoption, Caralee was described as living with oligophrenia, but doctors claimed that it was nothing a good home couldn’t fix. Moreover, alongside 9-year-old Caralee, the pair also adopted a three-year-old boy, Joshua, and hoped the adopted siblings would develop an excellent relationship.
However, according to reports, things began going south once Crystal and Jesse returned to the United States. For starters, they felt that Caralee’s behavior wasn’t normal, and the show mentioned how in one instance in 1998, she allegedly threatened to kill her brother because she was angry. Although Crystal and Jesse gave her a lot of their time, the pair said that things never seemed to improve. Eventually, Caralee was sent to a children’s psychiatrist hospital.
However, even that treatment did not seem to satisfy the couple, and they finally decided to send their adopted daughter back to Russia in 1999. Once in Russia, Caralee was kept in a children’s psychiatric hospital, and although she wanted to return to the United States, Crystal and Jessee annulled the adoption soon in 2000, cutting all ties.
After spending about two months in the psychiatric hospital, Caralee was picked up by Nina Kostina, who helped the girl get adopted by a new family in North Carolina in 2002. Surprisingly, Caralee thrived in her new family and earned her education before taking up volunteer work for the non-profit organization Mercy Ships in 2008. Thankfully, her second adoption proved to be the start of a wonderful life, as Caralee fought against the demons of her past to carve a happy future out for herself.
Where Is Caralee Now?
Caralee, who currently goes by the name Sabrina Caldwell, is happily married and a proud mother of four. After volunteering with Mercy Ships in 2008, Caralee or Sabrina spent two years in Africa, where she involved herself in social work for people who are underprivileged. The experience also proved quite valuable, as she took up a job at a hospital after returning to North Carolina in 2010. Interestingly, sometime in 2012, Caralee met and fell for Phil Caldwell, who went to the same church as her.
Phil, who was then a fifth-grade teacher, also fell head over heels for Caralee, and the two tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony in 2014. Talking about Phil, Caralee said, “I fell in love with him when I saw him interact with kids.” Since then, Caralee and Phil have managed to build up a wonderful home on a foundation of love and kindness. The couple currently live in North Carolina and are proud parents to three daughters, as well as their only son, who came into this world in 2020.
Moreover, reports mentioned that in order to be close to his wife, Phil quit his job as a fifth-grade teacher and is presently working in the same hospital as Caralee. In the summer of 2021, Caralee was just 33 years of age when she revealed in an interview that she had been living a life free of medication for quite some time. Caralee also stated that she is free of all mental health issues and has learned to come to terms with her past.
Talking about Crystal and Jesse, the couple who initially adopted her, Caralee said, “…I still have a high respect for them. Putting myself in their shoes, I would have probably done almost the same thing.” The mother of four added, “I wouldn’t … take a child back. I learned to forgive my past. I have an amazing husband … I have amazing kids. But if I didn’t go through what I went through I wouldn’t have that.” On the other hand, Crystal and Jesse prefer to keep their life under wraps, making their current whereabouts unclear.
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