posted on September 13, 2005 06:24:08 PM new
Very weird story...
WAKEMAN, Ohio - 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.
posted on September 13, 2005 08:48:50 PM new
When I first heard about this my first reaction was the parents should be hung.
Then I read your article and it talks about 'bright primary colored' cages....and all the rest...I question if they really are being truthful about this nightime sleeping arrangement being recommended by a doctor.
What to one might be considered a 'cage' to another might be considered an 'enclosure' to restrain them because of the possibility of some of them hurting the others.
Now...I'm not saying being put in a 'cage' is okay...but I've know a couple of people with normal, active children that they've had to make bed arrangements that keep their old children confined at night. One a sleep walker and another a hyperactive child who just wouldn't stay put no matter what they did.
And with the testimony of neighbors seeing them playing, with them appear to be well fed AND happy children....maybe we're not getting all the facts - the parents side of all this - and only hearing the 'sensational' news reporting of a 'different' or odd way for everyone to be able to sleep at night.
It will be interesting to hear more details...and more statements from the older children themselves.
posted on September 13, 2005 09:29:46 PM new
Yeah, this is just plain weird. I read about this earlier today, and it sounded like "just another" sicko child abuse case. After reading this article, I have to wonder what really was going on here?
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Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum sonatur.
posted on September 14, 2005 04:35:37 AM new
From a more recent article:
"The cages were 2 feet high and 3 feet long. The document said the there was no room for the kids to stand up. The cages were built with 2-by-4 wooden planks and chicken wire.
It also said that a large dresser cabinet was blocking two metal and wooden cages that had kids inside at the time of the visit.
Johnson said that there was a strong urine smell coming from the home and there was no bedding inside the cages. They contained small rubber mats for the kids to lie on.
The sheriff described the cages as makeshift cellblocks."
There were cages on the first and second floors of the home. This is a case of child abuse. Plain and simple. There's absolutely no reason for any of this. I know people with Down's Syndrome children and they do not have to be confined to cages like animals. These people were collecting money for all these children. Rather than properly watching over them, it's easier to cage them. Since when does a child with HIV have to be caged? You can't sugar coat this one.
posted on September 14, 2005 05:25:28 AM new
---The Gravelles didn't seem to think anything was wrong with their treatment of the kids.
"Basically, the parents thought they were providing for the protection of the children from themselves and from each other," said Huron County's Lt. Randy Sommers. "They thought it was circumstances that warranted the cages at night."---
I'd like to know who the psyhiatrist was who recommended the cages as the parents claim.
posted on September 14, 2005 05:36:11 AM new
It's an unfortunate fact that the more children a foster family takes in, the more money they get and there are those who will take full advantage of that. They have no intention of providing a loving home. I'd like to know what qualifications they had that allowed them to take in children with severe or even moderate disabilities? And, why the state would allow for unmoderated home schooling? There are special needs schools and that's where these children belong. These children need constant attention and love, 24/7. Sometimes I'm really sorry I reside in this state.
Fortunately, there are loving foster homes out there. The authorities need spend more time weeding out the bad ones. They're just too quick to place some of these children.
Cheryl
[ edited by cblev65252 on Sep 14, 2005 05:36 AM ]
posted on September 17, 2005 05:55:45 PM new
OK, now wait a doggone minute!
She filed paperwork in 2001 (when they only had 8 children) that her husband was abusing the children, and then they were given THREE MORE kids? Who runs the friggin adoptiotn board in this state?
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Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum sonatur.
posted on September 17, 2005 06:01:35 PM new
The story will probably just keep getting worse as the details come out. How sad - didn't anyone make any home visits for these adoptions? Didn't they notice that there were cages? Or did they just not care because these children were very difficult to place with their conditions?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on September 17, 2005 06:25:38 PM new
I believe we're talking about two different sets of rules here.
One when children are adopted and one when they're under state care and in foster homes.
I've know three families who have adopted children...one a normal, healthy child...and two who adopted special needs children. Once they adopted them there is no state 'checking' on the family. That's it...they did their 'checking' before the adoption was approved. And they didn't receive any aid for their care after the adoption either.
But under foster care, the parents are paid for taking care of the children and their care IS supposed to be supervised/monitored by the state....and we all know how poorly that's done in some places.
So I've never heard of 'adoptive' parents getting paid nor of continuing supervision.
Caroline 