WTF is wrong with people?

[frankb03]

11 Kids Made to Sleep in Cages in Ohio

Sheriff's deputies removed 11 disabled children from a home where they were made to sleep 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 sleep in the cages at night, County Prosecutor Russell Leffler said. The cages were stacked in bedrooms on the second floor of their house, he said.

The children, ages 1 to 14, were described as having conditions that included autism and fetal alcohol syndrome.

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. And a neighbor recently reported seeing the children working long hours in the family's yard, he 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.

[Tigger]

Sick.... I hope they get what's coming to them

~~~ Tigger

[Spark]

They will ... bastards

[rbmo]

There is no telling how many foster parents are like this in this world. Too many of them are in it for the money they recieve from goverments. The money is susposed to be for the children but many never see it. This is a prime example of goverment failure. These two should be kept in cages for a while,,,,prison cages. Lousy bastages!!!

[RJeremy]

Wow, that makes me sick to my stomach

[kbsooner21]

Ridiculous, how could they think this was right???

[yuri]

The fact is we need licenses to drive and carry a firearm. I think there should be the same tests to become a parent.

[drugstuntman]

Yuri - I second that motion.....I have said for a long time that parents need to be licensed....you need to prove that you have at least some bit of common sense and the ability to give the damn kid a chance in this already fucked-up world. So many people have ulterior motives or have kids just because it is the "normal" thing to do.

[yuri]

Survival of the fittest. I've always loved this phenomenon in nature. In this case, we don't need these monsters. Ever seen a heard of wilderbeast on the Serengeti? Well at the back of the group they're always one or two that seem to have no clue and are lagging a little too far behind. That's when a pride of lions makes them lunch meat. These people are lunch meat.

[frankb03]

The fact is we need licenses to drive and carry a firearm. I think there should be the same tests to become a parent.

Yuri, I say this all the time. Having a child is no longer a god given right. There's far too many inept adults bringing kids into this world.

[frankb03]

Follow up

Neighbors Say Kids Found in Cages Polite

By M.R. KROPKO, Associated Press Writer 56 minutes ago

The 11 children removed from a house where authorities say some of them slept in homemade cages are polite, well-behaved, well-dressed and appear to have been well-fed, neighbors and authorities said Tuesday.

Their adoptive parents, Michael Gravelle, 56, and Sharen Gravelle, 57, denied in a custody hearing Monday that they abused or neglected the children, who are ages 1-14 and have conditions that included autism and fetal alcohol syndrome.

No charges had been filed as of Tuesday afternoon, and messages left with the couple's lawyer were not immediately returned.

The Gravelles have said a psychiatrist recommended they make the children sleep in the cages, Huron County Prosecutor Russell Leffler told the Norwalk Reflector. The parents said the children, including some who had mental disorders, needed to be protected from each other, according to a search warrant on file at Norwalk Municipal Court.

Leffler refused to speak with an Associated Press reporter Tuesday at his office.

Neighbors said they often saw or heard the children playing, and the family yard was littered with toys — plastic cars, tricycles, slides and an overturned skateboard near a wooden ramp. Seven bicycles were piled in a storage shed.

"Those kids were dressed better than some of the kids who live in Cleveland. They behaved like any other kids when they were outside playing," said Jim Power, who lives across the street.

At night, authorities say, eight of the children were confined in 3 1/2-foot-tall wooden cages stacked in bedrooms on the second floor. The cages were painted in bright, primary colors, with some rigged with alarms that would send a signal to the downstairs when a cage door was opened. One cage had a dresser in front of it, county sheriff's Lt. Randy Sommers said Tuesday.

"The sheriff and I stood there for a few minutes and just kind of stared at what we were seeing. We were speechless," Sommers said.

No one answered the Gravelles' door Tuesday, and the gray, four-bedroom house was dark. A pig, roosters and other animals shared the yard outside Wakeman, a city of about 1,000 people 50 miles west of Cleveland.

The children have been placed with four foster families and were doing well, said Erich Dumbeck, director of the Huron County Department of Job and Family Services.

"We're still trying to figure out what happened in that home. We don't have any indication at this point that there was any abuse," Dumbeck said.

Sommers said a social worker investigating a complaint contacted authorities. Dumbeck would not discuss the complaint.

According to the search warrant, the cages had mats and the house smelled of urine. One boy said he slept in a cage for three years, Sommers said. A baby slept in a small bed, and two girls used mattresses

Deputies said they were called to the home last year when a 12-year-old boy was upset and ran away for several hours. He was found not far away.

Although the family has lived in Huron County for 10 years, the children were adopted through other counties and states, Dumbeck said. He said his agency was trying to determine how the adoptions were completed.

"I don't believe there were any caseworkers checking in with this family," he said. Reviews are ordered only when there is a complaint.

One of the children, a boy born with HIV, was adopted as an infant in 2001 through the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, the agency's director Jim McCafferty said. For caring for him, the Gravelles received a subsidy of at least $500 a month.

The private agencies who reviewed the couple's home life before the adoption gave them "glowing reports," McCafferty said.

Leah Hunter, who lives two houses away, said she often saw the children walking down the road.

"They looked OK. They hardly ever wore shoes but I'm a country girl and for me that's normal," she said.

[rented mule]

Yuri, I say this all the time. Having a child is no longer a god given right. There's far too many inept adults bringing kids into this world.

Speaking of which, I think I just heard my 3 year old turn the shredder on. Be right back.

[frankb03]

Speaking of which, I think I just heard my 3 year old turn the shredder on. Be right back.

Maybe your 3 year old wants to shred the foster parents

[rented mule]

Maybe your 3 year old wants to shred the foster parents

Well, she's more hostile than I am, so it wouldn't be out of the question.

Your signature pretty well sums up this story.

[frankb03]

Your signature pretty well sums up this story.

Most 3 year olds have more sense than adults. They only speak the truth.

It's been my motto for many years. I used to have a pin with the same saying. I wore it often.

LOL