Daughter of accused child abusers speaks out, defends her parents
“To paint a picture of who my parents were, they were selfless if I could just sum it up in one word”
LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Shamber Brown defends her adoptive parents, Jerry and Tam’al Flore. She said she was never abused during her time in the home, which dates back to 2005.
When asked if she thinks she was abused, Brown said no. “It’s really been crazy hearing the accusations just because, I mean, if I’m being totally frank, my mom is my best friend.”
Previous story: Four Clinton County foster, adoptive parents facing multiple counts of child abuse
Brown said the relationship between the Flores and the Browns started around 2005.
She said her family did a lot of fun things “from church to school to vacations” with the Brown family, who lived right down the road.
“They were like the one safe family I feel like that, us kids, we got to be with. I mean, I married one of their sons.”
She said her husband said he never experienced child abuse under the care of Joel and Tammy Brown, the other Dewitt couple charged.
“My husband definitely supports my parents. He supports his parents—has nothing but love. Definitely agrees with everything that I’m saying that, yeah, they’re being falsely accused.”
On Monday, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced child abuse charges against the Flores and the Browns. Both couples are accused of allegedly physically and mentally abusing eight out of the dozens of children they’ve adopted. The AG’s office said they believe the most significant abuse occurred at the Flore home. Brown disagreed, saying the only discipline received was sitting in a square—similar to time out.
“Think about if you’re sent to your room. Except the only difference was, it was normally within the parameter of where our parent was.”
Brown said the wooden item mentioned in the AG’s report was never used for discipline. “In our regular home, there was never like a wooden oar or paddle that we used specifically for a spanking.”
She’s holding firm that her siblings were not abused by the Flores but dealt with trauma from previous homes. “I would say a good half of my siblings have not gotten that ample healing just because they’ve been through really traumatic things – whether their memory is skewed or they like to kick up chaos.”
Both couples face a combined 36 charges. They have until Friday to turn themselves in.
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