11 Children found caged in Ohio home

[Chip R]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050913/...tkBHNlYwM3MTg-

Eleven Children Found Caged in Ohio Home

WAKEMAN, Ohio - Sheriff's deputies removed 11 children from a home where they were locked in cages less than 3 1/2 feet high, authorities said.

The children's adoptive and foster parents, Mike and Sharen Gravelle, denied that they'd abused or neglected the children during a custody hearing Monday in Huron County. No charges had been filed as of Monday night.

"The impression that we got was that they felt it was OK," said Lt. Randy Sommers of the Huron County Sheriff's Office.

The Gravelles said a psychiatrist recommended they make the children — ages 1 to 14, with conditions that included autism and fetal alcohol syndrome — sleep in the cages at night. The cages were stacked in bedrooms on the second floor of their house, said prosecutor Russell Leffler, who was reviewing the case.

The children were found by a children's services investigator on Friday when he stopped by the Gravelles' home outside Wakeman, about 50 miles west of Cleveland. Deputies returned to the house that evening.

Some of the cages were rigged with alarms, Sommers said; others had heavy furniture blocking their doors. The children didn't have blankets or pillows.

One of the boys said he'd slept in the cage for three years, Sommers said.

The children were placed with four foster families Monday.

A woman who identified herself as Sharen Gravelle's mother but refused to give her name said the children were happy and loved. "This year they have played and had fun and laughed like no other children have, which they have never been able to do," she said.

The Gravelles do not have a listed telephone number.

Sommers said there were no apparent signs the children had been malnourished or beaten, but they were sent to a hospital for examination. Their conditions were not available Monday.

In March, a couple who had recently moved from Ohio to Florida was charged with neglect when their adopted teenager was discovered malnourished in a crib-like cage. The then-17-year-old weighed 49 pounds, investigators said.

The twin-bed-sized crib had been prescribed when the boy was much younger and lived in Ohio. It had been fitted with a lid, chains and a padlock, investigators said.

[TeamMorris]

I saw this on the news this morning...made me sick! What is wrong with people ??!!

[REDREAD]

The article gives the impression that all 11 kids had some kind of disablity like autism, etc.

I can sympathize with the parents that the kids probably got up and wandered a lot during the night, but obviously, it's totally inappropriate to cage them.

Too bad that the "doctor" that recommended this solution isn't going to get into trouble. That's what makes me angrier, that a phsycologist recommended this. The parents might have been loving people that just weren't bright enough to recognize bad advice. I mean, they were probably full of good intentions if they were willing to take in 11 foster kids.

[TeamMorris]

The article gives the impression that all 11 kids had some kind of disablity like autism, etc.

I can sympathize with the parents that the kids probably got up and wandered a lot during the night, but obviously, it's totally inappropriate to cage them.

Too bad that the "doctor" that recommended this solution isn't going to get into trouble. That's what makes me angrier, that a phsycologist recommended this. The parents might have been loving people that just weren't bright enough to recognize bad advice. I mean, they were probably full of good intentions if they were willing to take in 11 foster kids.

The thought of the parents having good intentions once I read it was recommended by a doctor (who, yes...should be in trouble) did cross my mind for a second but only a second. If this was the case they could have at least put a mattress in the cages with proper bedding! They could have also contacted some service that maybe sells the type of beds they use for small children in hospitals. I know when TG was hospitalized at Children's for croup his bed resembled a cage and was the size of a twin bed. If there was ever a fire in that house....I don't even want to think about it!

I don't know about you but if a doctor ever recommended I put my child in a cage (no matter what the problem) I am pretty sure I would find a different doctor !

[WMR]

The article gives the impression that all 11 kids had some kind of disablity like autism, etc.

I can sympathize with the parents that the kids probably got up and wandered a lot during the night, but obviously, it's totally inappropriate to cage them.

Too bad that the "doctor" that recommended this solution isn't going to get into trouble. That's what makes me angrier, that a phsycologist recommended this. The parents might have been loving people that just weren't bright enough to recognize bad advice. I mean, they were probably full of good intentions if they were willing to take in 11 foster kids.

Or they were milking the system for the funds earmarked for people who take in just these sorts of kids and were providing them the barest sustenance possible while caging them in a manner that caused this couple the least amount of hassle.

Maybe they herded them all out for an hour of playtime each day?

We don't really yet know one way or the other. However, it seems to me that a reasonable person would realize just how wrong this is, so, in my opinion, mental incompetency on their part is the only possible excuse which then begs the question: Just how did these people get certified to take in 11 kids and why was there no supervision to catch this sooner (at least 3 yrs!!)?

[REDREAD]

There's got to be an easier way to make money than taking in 11 disabled kids. I just find it hard to believe that they were in it for profit. Although anything is possible. Obviously the parents are to blame for implementing the idea, I wasn't trying to excuse their behavior.

Maybe the guidelines for being a foster parent are pretty lax, but I'd think at bare minimum a social worker would visit (as they do for adoption) before the kids are placed there. But I don't know for sure.