[6boysrus]

Eleven Children Found Caged in Ohio Home

By Associated Press

September 13, 2005, 5:11 AM EDT

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.
Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationwo...orld-headlines

[ingodshands]

"No charges had been filed as of Monday night."

?????? Why??????



Outrageous...

Collette

[tricia3]

Stories like this make me realize just how lucky I was to be adopted by a loving family.

I can't help but wonder why these people took in so many kids when they obvious didn't have the ability to care for them in a way that they (the kids) deserved.
And I'm with Collette...why haven't they been charged yet?????? Surely there is no justification in the actions of these "parents". If these children had such severe mental why weren't they placed with more qualified foster parents?
UUUGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[6boysrus]

I just can't wait to hear what their reasoning is behind not charging them. For heavens sakes. These children are being treated like animals.. Matter of fact you'd be CHARGED with NEGLECT and ABUSE if you mistreated your pets in this way.

I cant imagine that these kids didnt speak out, chances are they they didnt out of fear. Or some cultist reasoning.

Ill post more updates if I catch anything else..

i second to being blessed to being adopted by a wonderful family.. just goes to show how the system has broken down...

Yvonne

[dadfor2]

6boysrus...

i saw that on the news also, i couldnt believe it...how very very sad...as if the kids didnt have enough issues......

I can't help but wonder why these people took in so many kids when they obvious didn't have the ability to care for them in a way that they (the kids) deserved

more kids, more money....sad but true.

[ingodshands]

"I just can't wait to hear what their reasoning is behind not charging them. For heavens sakes. These children are being treated like animals.. Matter of fact you'd be CHARGED with NEGLECT and ABUSE if you mistreated your pets in this way."

Those poor kids...I bet they will suffer nightmares...if they were locked up in cages at night, who knows what else they have been through and suffered at the hands of these people. Why on earth do people like this foster or adopt, only to treat children this way? What was their motive/reason for fostering, it surely wasn't because of a love for children.

It probably was fear why the children didn't speak out. I should imagine they were terrified every day they were there. So, so sad.

Collette

[jimpol]

I don't understand why no social worker has seen this before. If all of these kids are adopted or foster children then a social worker has been to their house before. I just don't understand. It makes me so sad that innocent children are treated this way.

[dadfor2]

It probably was fear why the children didn't speak out

this is what broke my heart the most...chances are, since they came from the foster care system, that being placed in cages might not of seemed so bad to them from where they came from....

the fact that they were 'happy kids' (if thats true) makes me believe that the abuse and neglect just wasnt as bad as what that lived with before.

the whole situation is just a little too much for me...

[kburch]

The following is a quote from an article on cnn.com about this case: (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/12/cag...ren/index.html)

""Basically, the parents thought they were providing for the protection of the children from themselves and from each other," said Sommers.

"They thought there was circumstances with these children that warranted the cages at night," Sommers added, but he would not go into details of what those circumstances were."

Now, the part that scares me the most is wondering what had to be going on in this family for the parents to think this was necessary . I mean, putting them in cages is seriously screwed up, but it seems to be a symptom, not the problem. I mean, the social workers should have noticed what was going on before the cages, if you ask me...

[lucyjoy]

I cannot figure how this could occur. Every time a child is added here my house is searched throughly for any dangerous things. My children are quesioned on numerous visits. And if the children were foster children, there should have been workers still coming in the homes. If children are unsafe at night, you put alarms on the doors of the bedrooms, not put the kids into cages. This is so weird to me that no one caught this. My children came from horrific backgrounds but I guarantee if anyone tried to do this to them, they'd be screaming it to everyone. Stuff like this just makes me sick.

[ingodshands]

When I was in foster care, Social workers used to come. Apart from my last placement I was told when they come, to sit there and not say anything, be quiet.

There were things happening to myself and my sister that I was not happy about, but because I was scared, as was my sister, we done what we were told, we kept quiet. I remember being hit over the head with cooking pans, pulled down the stairs by my hair, my sister had her wrist bandaged up because of being thrown against the wall, but of course the person responsible gave another reason. Kids can hide things when frightened. Needless to say, my trust in Social workers diminished.

I think a good idea would be for foster kids to be interviewed seperately from foster parents.

Maybe then, kids will have the courage to speak out.

Collette

[lucyjoy]

Mine are interview seperately between placements.

[Casey677]

Ok, here is my question.... if one of the kids said he slept in that cage for three years, how in the world could a one year old be placed with them???? Where are the social workers who should be doing homestudies????? Why haven't charges been filed???? OMG... this makes me so mad!!!

[wuzzle]

You are right Casey - why had no one been in the house up to this point?? Haden't even thought of that.My heart breaks for these children.

[NDN]

Some of the news reports have stated that there was no worker "working with" the family. Not sure how on earth they could be placed with a 1 y/o without a worker doing a homestudy...apparently the procedures that are in place to protect against this sort of thing weren't followed. That not only angers me, but makes me concerned for other children out there that may be receiving this type of treatment because they are not monitored.

BTW...I am also very irritated by the fact that some media outlets seem to be stressing that this was "prescribed" treatment from a psychiatrist for the protection of the chilren--as if that justifies it. Furthermore, if the kids need to be protected from themselves & others to the point that they need sleeping rooms--not cages--why are more children being placed in the home? Shouldn't it be taken into consideration that these children need intensive, personal attention and perhaps adding more children to the home (and failing to check on them) might not be a good idea?