11 Kids Made to Sleep in Cages in Ohio

[flyingtiger1013]

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0905/259770.html

WAKEMAN, Ohio (AP) - 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.

[rictus58]

Where are the Child welfare services to check on the children in foster care? This is disgusting. I heard this on WTOP this morning. They mentioned something on the air that a psychiatrist told them to put the children in cages. If that's true, he needs his liscense revoked.

[NavyDave]

THe foster parents and the psycho doc need to be placed in cages for three years

[Predicto]

I doubt that the psychiatrist actually exists.

[rictus58]

I wonder if they are going to get the name of the shrink.

[Thiebear]

so they were making 1000+ a month for 11 *special needs* children?

so for 11,000 easy a month they put them in cages?

This is why the abortion issue will NEVER be addressed.. They don't take care of the infrastructure needed to make adoption / foster parents a real option...

[stevenaa]

How in the heck could charges not be filed. Unreal.

[Debsie72]

Just makes me sick. I wish I could take those children but unfortuantly I have a severe case of MS (multiple sclerosis) and cannot have children of my own or adopt

:dallasuck :eaglesuck

[BlueTalon]

Just makes me sick. I wish I could take those children but unfortuantly I have a severe case of MS (multiple sclerosis) and cannot have children of my own or adopt

I bet you'd provide them with beds, though.