http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169207,00.html

This story freaks me out becaue authorities say that there are no obvious signs of abuse. It's not considered abuse to force children to sleep in cages at night?

- Chris

 

That is very freaky.

It's bad enough to lock kids in cages, but handicapped kids, that's just sickening.

Where were the social workers? I know they're busy beyond belief, but they dropped the ball on that one. Of course, the foster parents could have hidden the cages and the kids obviously didn't say anything, if the workers did come over.

Sure makes you wonder.

 

They had one of their neighbors on TV and she admitted to hearing the children cry but since she never saw any signs of abuse, she just accepted it. She was pretty upset by the fact it was under her nose and she didn't know what was going on.

It would make anyone sick under those circumstances.

 

I heard the parents were told by a shrink that this treatment was ok, anyone know if that is true?

 

All I heard that the kids were well behaved.

As for the social workers, some are just in it for the paycheck, though their pay is pretty low.

The other reasons are actually to help the children, but are over loaded so they have to do a quicky job.

Almost like an assembly line.

Blame that partially on the budget cuts.

 

This story is so odd, I think we need more facts to come to any conclusion.

 

Very weird, who cares about more facts to come to a conclusion, the foster parents were freaks. They shouldn't of ever had those kids.

 

I agree with you Romer......they need should never had custody of those kids.

 

I've heard of a lot of foster parents who treat the kids like crap, or as in this case, utter animals. We had a couple in high school who never brushed their hair or teeth, wore ill-fitting, handed-down clothes... I understand it's hard to afford kids and all, but these people were in the business of fostering, they didn't make it a labor of love, which it should be. I'll bet in this caged-kids case, the parents were just doing it to pocket some cash (which would explain the extravagant number of kids) and found cages the easiest and cheapest form of babysitter around. It disgusts me.

 

Why so many kids under the care or lack of it under one roof, especially disabled?
Retarded Systems lack of care makes me fume.

 

The reason I said I needed more information was, according to other news stories, the kids appeared to be in great shape, no signs of abuse or neglect, and played/interacted well when they were outside.

"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 between the ages of 1 and 14 and have conditions that included autism and fetal alcohol syndrome.

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

I'm not saying this is right- I'm just saying this doesn't seem to be your typical parental abuse/neglect story either.

 

I guess I am playing the devil's advocate here, but, I think that, depeding on the level of autism the kids have, this may have been a neccessary precaution to take for the safety of the kids (at least in the eyes of the foster parents).
I agree with polarbear here that we need more information before calling the parents "freaks". Of course they could have handles things differently, less extreme. But sometimes extreme solutions are required if the situation arises. I know I would definately go to some extreme lengths to keep my kids safe (especially with disorder such as autism)

 

I agree with polarbear.

These kids seemed to be well behaved, polite and well fed.

I'm going to wait until more info comes out on this situation before making any judgements.

Still, seems a bit odd that the kids were kept in animal cages, allegedly.

 

Hey, that is nothing. Those kids are going to be OK. In the history of the world, millions, if not 100's of millions of children have had it worse than that.

 

So true man, I'm sure lots of kids in third world countries would love to be in a warm cage in a house, getting fed, then the streets where they are.