Aspies For Freedom

Judge says caged autistic kids abused
Adoptive couple still hoping to keep custody

The Associated Press
23rd December 2005


NORWALK, Ohio - A couple who adopted 11 children with health and behavioral problems abused some of them by making them sleep in wooden cages without pillows or mattresses, a judge ruled Thursday.

The children will remain in foster care until Huron County Juvenile Court Judge Timothy Cardwell holds a hearing on who should get custody.

Their adoptive parents, Michael and Sharen Gravelle, have not been charged with a crime and denied abusing the youngsters. They said they built the cages in 2003 to protect the children from each other and themselves.

"We love our children very much and we will continue to do everything possible to get them home," the couple said in a statement read by their lawyer, Ken Myers.

Myers said the couple held out hope that the judge would return the children to them under court supervision.

"I would expect that if the children come home, there would have to be some accommodations made to the enclosures," Myers said.

Cardwell dismissed allegations that the Gravelles neglected the children, saying there was no evidence the couple failed to feed and clothe the youngsters. But he said that making them sleep in the cages constituted abuse.

The children, ages 1 to 15, have problems such as fetal alcohol syndrome and a disorder that involves eating dirt. The judge said that their psychological, behavioral and health problems became too much for the couple.

"In this overwhelmed state, the Gravelles made a series of poor parental decisions that were detrimental to the children and led to an appropriate intervention by the Huron County Department of Job and Family Services and the Huron County sheriff," the judge wrote.

Myers said he and the Gravelles would wait until the judge decides custody to determine if they will appeal.

The lawyer said he did not know if the ruling would make it easier for criminal charges to be filed against his clients.

"We don't think anything criminally was done," he said.

Huron County Prosecutor Russell Leffler said his office was pleased with the ruling. His investigation continues and he said he's unsure if criminal charges will be filed.

Leffler plans to review testimony from the custody hearing before making a decision.

"That doesn't mean that's worth anything in a criminal case," he said.

The children were taken from the Gravelles in September.

A school-age Gravelle child testified that the couple forced him to stay in his "box" for up to two weeks for taking peanut butter, bread and cereal from the kitchen.

He said that another time, he was forced to live in the bathroom* for nearly three months for urinating in his enclosed bed. He also testified that he liked the Gravelles as parents and felt safe in their home.

Myers said the Gravelles were disappointed not to be able to spend Christmas with the youngsters, who have been visiting with court supervision.

* Editorial note by Stella. In American English, "bathroom" is the common euphemism for toilet.

Source: The Inquirer
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...1056/rss02

Its obviously extremely abusive, why the hell arent they facing charges? How much money were they receiving to have all those children? It must have been a huge amount.

And yet to punish a child for taking food!

He was probably hungry.

One can imagine the judge having thought something like "the foster parents' behaviour was not really acceptable but understandable under the (autistic) circumstances."

He certainly doesn't seem to  think that confining the children in cages or locking an incontinent  child in a toilet for three months constituted "a cruel and unusual punishment" as that phrase is understood in international human rights jurisprudence.

Which makes me cross.

Stella

Its utterly dispicable.

Prisoners would not be allowed to be treated like that.

Makes you wonder how well they screen these prospective foster parents. I think there should be a limit to how many children they can take on. Disabled children need extra care and these people had far too many to cope with.

They might have been ok with just one or two. I'd say they must have been getting paid a lot to take on a dozen or so kids but just weren't capable of looking after that many (not too many people would be, even if the kids had no disabilities)

Parents in caged-children case to visit today with all 11 youths

Steve Murphy
Toledo Blade
Thursday, December 29, 2005


NORWALK, Ohio - A week after a judge found that Michael and Sharen Gravelle abused eight of their 11 adopted special-needs children, the Huron County couple will be allowed to see all of the youngsters for two hours today during a supervised visit.

Judge Timothy Cardwell of Huron County Juvenile Court granted the visitation at an undisclosed location outside of the Gravelle home after receiving a written request from Kenneth Myers, an attorney for the Wakeman-area couple who kept some of the children in wood-and-wire cages.

The children, who suffer from such conditions as fetal-alcohol syndrome and autism, were removed Sept. 9 from the Gravelles' home after authorities found six of the structures, plus a room with two beds that was sometimes barricaded with a dresser.

Judge Cardwell made the abuse findings Dec. 22 after hearing five days of testimony and also ruled that all of the children were dependent, meaning that conditions in the home put them at risk of being abused or neglected.

The judge's decision kept the children, who range in age from 1 to 15, in foster care, where they have been for the past 3 1/2 months.

The Gravelles last saw the children Dec. 17, and their next supervised visitation was scheduled for Jan. 7. Mr. Myers had asked Judge Cardwell to allow an unsupervised visit in the Gravelle home between Christmas and New Year's Day.

"This gives the Gravelles an opportunity to see their children over the holidays and to give them their Christmas presents," Mr. Myers said yesterday. "And I also think it's important for them to be together in light of the judge's ruling so that the children know that the Gravelles still love them and want them home."

A second hearing is expected to be conducted next month to determine the children's future living arrangements. No date had been set yesterday.

T. Douglas Clifford, an attorney for the children, filed a motion supporting the visitation as long as it was supervised.

Assistant Huron County Prosecutor Jennifer DeLand and Margaret Kern, the children's guardian ad litem, both filed motions opposing any additional visitation for the Gravelles, arguing that it was not in the youngsters' best interest.

In her motion, Ms. DeLand said that the county Department of Job and Family Services opposed additional visits because the Gravelles had tried to discuss the case with the children during previous meetings and the couple seemed "overwhelmed" while with the youngsters.

"You know, it's not a personal thing to me," Ms. DeLand said yesterday. "If the judge ruled that, we will accommodate that. The judge has to make a decision on what he believes is in the best interest of the children, and I have faith and confidence in the ability of the judge to do that."

One of the Gravelles' adopted sons testified during the hearing earlier this month that he slept in one of the cages and was sometimes confined there during the day as punishment.

The boy also testified that some of the children were spanked with a wooden board for setting off the cages' alarms and that he was once confined to a bathroom for 81 days for urinating in his bed.

Contact Steve Murphy at:
smurphy@theblade.com
or 419-724-6078.

Source: Toledo Blade
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art.../512290360