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Foster mom sentenced
for abusing toddler

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

A Wahiawa woman accused along with her husband of abusing their adopted children and forcing a 2-1/2-year-old foster son to eat his own vomit and feces was sentenced to eight months in prison.

But Sharon Mae Yadao of Wahiawa will probably spend only about five months behind bars since she has spent at least 80 days in pretrial detention, her court-appointed attorney Lane Takahashi said.

Yadao faced up to a year in prison each on two counts of slapping a 12-year-old adopted daughter and endangering the welfare of a minor. She also faced up to five years for second-degree attempted assault for hitting an adopted son with a belt, causing bruises.

"We don't ever treat dogs, cows, pigs, stray animals the way she treated the five children in her custody," said Deputy Prosecutor Renee Sonobe-Hong.

The abuse allegedly occurred between April 1997 to July 1999.

Takahashi, who requested probation for Yadao, said the court needed to look at her upbringing to understand why she treated her children so.

Yadao herself was a foster child and was sexually abused by a foster uncle. She also was admitted nearly half a dozen times to the Queen's psychiatric ward for delusions brought on by marijuana use.

But Yadao disputes the children's allegations that she force-fed the 2-year old his vomit and feces, he said.

Yadao yesterday addressed the court saying she is remorseful and will do anything to get her children back.

But Yadao blames the children for her actions, an indication that she is in denial and poses a danger to society, Sonobe-Hong said.