It’s a photo that still haunts the corners of the internet. A young, tearful Black boy, Devonte Hart, hugging a white police officer during a 2014 protest in Portland. It was supposed to be a symbol of healing. Instead, it became the prologue to a nightmare. When we talk about the book We Were Once a Family by Emma Smucker, or the horrific events that inspired it, we aren't just discussing a "true crime" story. We're looking at a systemic collapse.
Jen and Sarah Hart drove their SUV off a California cliff in 2018. They took six adopted children with them. It wasn't an accident. It was a mass murder-suicide. But the real sting? It was preventable.
Why the Hart Case Still Stings
Most people remember the headlines. Two "progressive" moms. A van full of kids. A 100-foot drop. But We Were Once a Family digs into the soil beneath those headlines. It turns out the soil was toxic.
The Harts moved from Minnesota to Oregon to Washington. They were "state-line jumpers." Every time a neighbor reported them for starvation or abuse—and they did, many times—the family simply packed up and moved. Our foster care system isn't a net; it's a sieve. If you have the right "aesthetic"—the farmer's markets, the indie music festivals, the "love is love" signs—the authorities often look the other way.
Honestly, the racial dynamics are impossible to ignore. Two white women were given the benefit of the doubt that the Black birth parents never received. The biological families of these children, specifically in Texas, were fighting to keep them. They weren't perfect, sure. But they were family. The state decided the Harts were a "better" option. They were wrong.
The Failure of Social Safety Nets
You've got to look at the paperwork. In Minnesota, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to domestic assault involving one of the girls. Did that stop them from keeping the other five? Nope.
The system treats adoption as a final destination. Once the papers are signed, the "happily ever after" is assumed. But for Markis, Hannah, Devonte, Abigail, Jeremiah, and Sierra, the "ever after" was a house of mirrors. They were forced to perform for social media. They had to look happy in photos while their ribs showed through their skin.
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Neighbors in Woodland, Washington, actually tried to help. The DeKalb family called CPS after Hannah Hart jumped out of a window at 1:30 AM, begging for help and saying her parents were "mean." The Harts fled before the state could act. This is the "broken" part people talk about.
What We Get Wrong About Foster Care
People think the goal of Child Protective Services is to find "better" parents. It's actually supposed to be reunification or kinship care. In the case of the Hart children, aunts and grandmothers were willing to take them.
The court systems in Texas and other states often prioritize speed over stability. They want kids out of the system. That leads to what experts call "legal orphans"—children whose ties to their biological roots are severed completely, even when it isn't necessary.
We Were Once a Family highlights the "adoption industrial complex." It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it’s basically just bureaucracy meeting capitalism. There are financial incentives to move kids through the system. There are subsidies. And there is a massive lack of oversight once a child is placed.
The Performance of Parenting
Social media is a liar. Jen Hart was a master of the "digital scrapbook." She posted about organic meals and spontaneous road trips.
Meanwhile, the kids were being punished with food deprivation. This is a specific kind of cruelty. It wasn't that the Harts couldn't afford food; they used it as a weapon of control.
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- The kids were often kept out of school (homeschooled).
- They were isolated from peers.
- They were trained to speak in a specific, "enlightened" way.
When you look at the photos now, knowing what we know, the smiles look like grimaces. It's a reminder that we don't know what happens behind a closed door, even if that door has a "Kindness is Everything" sticker on it.
The Investigation After the Fall
When the SUV was found at the bottom of the cliff in Mendocino County, there were no skid marks. None. Jen Hart didn't try to brake. She accelerated.
Toxicology reports showed that Sarah Hart and several of the children had high levels of diphenhydramine (Benadryl) in their systems. They were drugged. They didn't even have a chance to scream.
Investigators found that Sarah had been searching things like "how long does it take to die from hypothermia" and "is it relatively painless to drown" on her phone in the days leading up to the crash. This was calculated. It wasn't a "snap" decision under pressure. It was an execution.
Listening to the Voices That Were Silenced
The most heartbreaking part of the whole saga is the erasure of the birth families. Names like Sherry Davis, the mother of three of the children. She lost her kids over a lapse in judgment, while the women who eventually murdered them were celebrated as "saints" for years.
We need to talk about "transracial adoption" with more nuance. It’s not just about love. It’s about cultural competence. It’s about acknowledging that a child’s identity is tied to their origin. The Harts tried to scrub that origin away. They wanted a blank slate they could project their own "cool" identities onto.
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Actionable Insights for the Future
We can't change what happened to the Hart children. But we can look at the cracks they fell through.
1. Demand Interstate Communication
We need a national database for child abuse reports. Currently, if you move from Minnesota to Washington, your CPS history doesn't always follow you like a shadow. It should. It’s easier to track a stolen car across state lines than a history of child endangerment.
2. Support Kinship Care First
The first question should always be: "Is there a grandma, an aunt, or a cousin?" Removing a child from their community is a trauma in itself. It should be the absolute last resort, not the most convenient paperwork path.
3. Look Past the "Aesthetic"
If a neighbor says a child is starving, believe them. Don't let a clean house or a "coexist" bumper sticker sway your judgment. Abuse doesn't have a "look." It happens in suburbs, in "woke" households, and in wealthy neighborhoods just as much as anywhere else.
4. Reform the Adoption Subsidy System
We need more oversight on how adoption subsidies are used. There should be mandatory, unannounced wellness checks for a period of years after an adoption is finalized, especially in cases where multiple children are adopted at once.
The story of the Hart family is a tragedy, but it's also a warning. It tells us that "we were once a family" can be a beautiful sentiment or a terrifying lie, depending on who is telling the story and who is being silenced.
The best way to honor the six lives lost is to stop looking for "perfect" parents and start looking for "safe" systems. We owe it to the next Devonte, the next Hannah, and the next Markis to make sure their cries for help aren't drowned out by a well-curated Instagram feed.
Next Steps for Readers
- Educate yourself on the ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act) principles, which prioritize keeping children within their communities—concepts that could benefit all children in the foster system.
- Support organizations like the National Center for Youth Law, which works to transform the systems that let these children down.
- Read the full investigative reporting by journalists like Emma Smucker to understand the deep-seated legal failures in the Texas and Oregon court systems.