The nutters in CA who chained up 13 kids...

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

Wow. v Yeah, I mean, I'd have assumed no one took them to the doctor for years---at least the older ones who look less nourished. Hard to imagine.

I misunderstood what they said. They are speaking to a doctor treating them NOW.

I haven't reached the bottom of my coffee cup yet lol.

 

[John VN]

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

If we want to keep this thread open, we need to avoid religious talk.

 

[msjprincess]

I believe California is actually one of the more regulated states in which to homeschool.

In this case, the father registered their home as an official "private school" w/ himself as the principal. The school was named Sand Castle Day School.

Apparently, from one article I read, an unlicensed private school would only be subject to random fire safety checks by the fire marshal?

This article makes it sound like it's pretty east to homeschool in CA. It sounds like anyone can just claim that they're a private school. http://beta.latimes.com/local/la-me-ln-perris-home-school-20180116-story.html

 

[NHdisneylover]

I misunderstood what they said. They are speaking to a doctor treating them NOW.

I haven't reached the bottom of my coffee cup yet lol.

ok, that makes more sense.

 

[pigletto]

It makes me sad to think of the hard road ahead for these children. In the case of the oldest.. 29 years of this madness?! How in the world would someone acclimate and lead a realitively normal existence after that? What a long road to healing it will be for them all.

 

[Disneymadhouse]

I wonder what gave the 17 year old the courage to finally try and get help for her and her siblings. Why did they not try to run away while on the trips to DL? Run to a CM / security guard etc ?
Very sad story.

Claire

 

[tzolkin]

I wonder what gave the 17 year old the courage to finally try and get help for her and her siblings. Why did they not try to run away while on the trips to DL? Run to a CM / security guard etc ?
Very sad story.

Claire

Totally just assumptions, but if they had very little exposure to the outside world, they may not have thought they had any reason nor the ability to “tell someone”. It’s possible that they thought this was normal family life and how everyone lived. A few positive/fun rewards like a trip to Disney or a marriage renewal and their “normal” private life at home.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Totally just assumptions, but if they had very little exposure to the outside world, they may not have thought they had any reason nor the ability to “tell someone”. It’s possible that they thought this was normal family life and how everyone lived. A few positive/fun rewards like a trip to Disney or a marriage renewal and their “normal” private life at home.

I agree---but I do wonder what changed to percipitate this now?

I wonder if the abuse has gotten worse? There don't seem to be any big group outing photos after the last vow renewal (photos posted in 2016 but the news is now saying that was 2015). And the grandparents had not seen the kids in several years---so it seems perhaps the isolation was becomeing more pronounced, probably for some reason.

Did the parents quit allowing them out for fun outings at all after that? Did parents who had begun to normalize malnourishing their children feed them less and less? Were shackles new since the last outing?
Or mabe living closer to other homes, the kids saw other neighborhood kids outside the windows more often and slowly began to realize that what they had been taught was normal wasn't?

Whatever it was, thank goodness that girl realized help was needed and figured out how to get it.

 

[Hikergirl]

I wonder what gave the 17 year old the courage to finally try and get help for her and her siblings. Why did they not try to run away while on the trips to DL? Run to a CM / security guard etc ?
Very sad story.

Claire

I have to assume that they were just brainwashed by their parents. They either assumed that is was how it was, or if they told someone something horrible would be done to them, or their siblings. You can't have that many people held captive but yet able to go out in public at times without them being "under control". Those kids are not your typical kids, if they've spent their life literally in captivity who knows how they think. It really is so sad and disturbing to think that this kind of stuff happens in this day and age. Sadly I don't think the older ones will ever be able to live happy normal lives after this. There is hope for the young ones though.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Yeah, my money's on the youngest child being the product of one of the daughters and the father. If you look at the "Day Care" enrollment, it lists kids in 5th grade and up...and then there's this 2yo. Now, I have 4 kids over an 11-year span, I understand gaps, but that's a little much! especially since there doesn't seem to be a fertility issue.

I can't fault the neighbors--we live in a neighborhood where we literally have the only children on the block, everyone else is MUCH older--in fact, three neighbors died last year, another moved into assisted living. So, we don't hang out much--we wave hello, exchange pleasantries, but that's it. They've seen my kids, for sure, but I don't know if the neighbors could pick my kids out of a line-up, name them, and say for sure that we only had 4.

The grandparents, OTOH, had to have had a clue. You'd think they'd casually inquire about the kids, and expect typical answers--Betty started college, Joe has a job, Missy is dating a young man from church. SOMETHING. even if you weren't very involved, you'd want to know about milestones.

I do wonder if things took a turn for the worse in the last few years, but this wasn't ever close to normal.

 

[mnrose]

Yeah, my money's on the youngest child being the product of one of the daughters and the father. If you look at the "Day Care" enrollment, it lists kids in 5th grade and up...and then there's this 2yo. Now, I have 4 kids over an 11-year span, I understand gaps, but that's a little much! especially since there doesn't seem to be a fertility issue.

I can't fault the neighbors--we live in a neighborhood where we literally have the only children on the block, everyone else is MUCH older--in fact, three neighbors died last year, another moved into assisted living. So, we don't hang out much--we wave hello, exchange pleasantries, but that's it. They've seen my kids, for sure, but I don't know if the neighbors could pick my kids out of a line-up, name them, and say for sure that we only had 4.

The grandparents, OTOH, had to have had a clue. You'd think they'd casually inquire about the kids, and expect typical answers--Betty started college, Joe has a job, Missy is dating a young man from church. SOMETHING. even if you weren't very involved, you'd want to know about milestones.

I do wonder if things took a turn for the worse in the last few years, but this wasn't ever close to normal.

I dunno. I DO think a big gap is possible with the mother of the family. Isn't she like 49? Meaning that she was 47 when that baby was born (or something like that). That is precisely the time of life when a big gap is normal. Menopausal babies are a thing, and they are often "oops" babies as the mom assumes she can no longer become pregnant. My mother was born when her mom was 45, and her dad was 50. She is 12 years younger than her closest siblings. I'm 100% confident that she was not a planned pregnancy! LOL. My mom had nieces OLDER than she was, as her oldest brother was more than 20 years older than her. She was the flower girl (not junior bridesmaid) at several sibling weddings. So it happens.

Given the dramatically stunted growth of those kids, I'd be shocked if any of them were even capable of having children.

 

[Imzadi]

I wonder what gave the 17 year old the courage to finally try and get help for her and her siblings. Why did they not try to run away while on the trips to DL? Run to a CM / security guard etc ?
Very sad story.

From what little I read, she found a deactivated cellphone in the house. She grabbed it, ran outside and was able to still dial 911, as ALL cellphones are set up to be able to dial 911, even if there is no service connected. 911 works on radio frequency, so it doesn't need a phone service connected to it. Women who are abused are advised to always keep a working cellphone hidden away and CHARGED UP to use, just like this, should they need it.

I'm surprised the cellphone in this case was charged up. One of the parents must have just bought a new cellphone and discarded this one in a drawer and it still had enough of a charge for the 17 yr old to make the call. Or she found the charger to go with it and was able to charged it a little. The kids obviously have enough TV or internet contact with the world for her to know how to call 911. I bet her parents never trained the kids to go to 911 for anything.

 

[Hikergirl]

The doctor said the 29 year old has the body of an underdeveloped 15 year old. I don't know if underdeveloped means that she hasn't really gone through puberty or not, it may not be possible for any of the older ones to have been pregnant

 

[Wishing on a star]

Don't colour my surprises by this being the actions of someone who is committed to 'god'. Save your prayers for these children, prayers made this mess, love and compassion is needed to fix this mess.

I am so sorry, and I don't know where such vitriol and anger and downright prejudice is coming from.
But, that is NOT true.
This has absolutely nothing to do with god or spirituality.
This is sickness and evil, at its worst levels.

People like to use all kinds of 'excuses' to cover their sick evil demonic actions.
In fact, claiming some kind of higher spiritual power is the most often used.

I am going to go out on a limb... This is slightly religious..... And, I am really not looking to get points...
But, after the above post, I will mention this...
I am speaking in general, and I am not speaking for, against, ANY particular religious or spiritual beliefs...
Just a note: Satan's only power is deception. (look at how many people here were decieved, or purpusefully chose not to see what they didn't want to have to see)
Satan is harder at work among so-called believers than he is anywhere else.
They ARE his target, his objective.

 

[Imzadi]

STOP with all the religious posts. This situation has only just been uncovered. Many of us want to keep talking about it as it unfolds. Some of you will get it shut down. A topic can't be reopened once the original thread has been closed by Mods.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Read an article today that noted the dates of some of the couple's vow renewals. Most recent:

2011, at a Vegas chapel with a fairly long video (children not seen)
2016, all the children seen in matching outfits with parents. They seem to be happy, and are neither overly or underweight in this photo.

I infer that the abuse and neglect intensified in the last 16 odd months for the children to be in such horrible physical condition.

 

[mnrose]

Read an article today that noted the dates of some of the couple's vow renewals. Most recent:

2011, at a Vegas chapel with a fairly long video (children not seen)
2016, all the children seen in matching outfits with parents. They seem to be happy, and are neither overly or underweight in this photo.

I infer that the abuse and neglect intensified in the last 16 odd months for the children to be in such horrible physical condition.

Knowing that some of those kids were well into their 20's when the second photo was taken sheds some light on the alleged abuse. I'm sorry, but not ONE of those kids looks remotely like an adult, let alone in their mid-late 20's. That is scary as hell. No way is that "natural." It looks like long term malnutrition to the point where puberty was stopped. I've seen that in "adult" women....those with severe anorexia for example. If I saw JUST that photo, and knew none of the facts, sure they look like "normal" kids ranging from baby to early teens. Knowing that some are adults? Makes me very sad.

 

[RedAngie]

The grandparents, OTOH, had to have had a clue. You'd think they'd casually inquire about the kids, and expect typical answers--Betty started college, Joe has a job, Missy is dating a young man from church. SOMETHING. even if you weren't very involved, you'd want to know about milestones.

I do wonder if things took a turn for the worse in the last few years, but this wasn't ever close to normal.

The grandparents say they haven't seen the family in four or five years. So the 29 year old was 24 or 25 the last time they saw her and nothing looked amiss? Please. Based on other statements by the grandparents, I'm flat out saying they approved of the way their grandchildren were being raised.

 

[Kellykins1218]

Read an article today that noted the dates of some of the couple's vow renewals. Most recent:

2011, at a Vegas chapel with a fairly long video (children not seen)
2016, all the children seen in matching outfits with parents. They seem to be happy, and are neither overly or underweight in this photo.

I infer that the abuse and neglect intensified in the last 16 odd months for the children to be in such horrible physical condition.

The same picture with the matching outfits was used as their cover picture back in 2010. They're not recent photos.