Foster parents put 11 children in cages
Sharen and Mike Gravelle are adoptive or foster parents for 11 children with disabilities, such as autism and fetal alcohol syndrome. For at least three years, they have been locking the children in cages at night.
The children were found in nine cages built into the walls of the house near this small city in northern Ohio, according to the Huron County Sheriff’s Office. They had no blankets or pillows, and the cages were rigged with alarms that sounded if opened, Lt. Randy Sommers said.
The children told authorities they slept in the cages — 40 inches high and 40 inches deep — at night. Doors to some of the cages were blocked with heavy furniture.
Investigators believe nine of the children slept in the cages that were stacked two-high on the house’s second story. Two mattresses on a bedroom floor also showed signs of recent use, Sommers said.
One of the boys said he’d slept in the cage for three years, Sommers said. — Associated Press
What the hell? Anyway, we’re back, and the Gravelles are the Stupid People of the Day.
[...] It’s rare that a Stupid Person featured here actually returns to the news, but it’s happened. In September, we reported on Sharen and Mike Gravelle, who were adoptive or foster parents for 11 children, whom they were caught keeping in cages. Now they’re in court, trying to regain custody of the children. One boy said he had to live in the bathroom for about three months, sleeping in the bathtub, as punishment for going to the bathroom in his cage, Huron County sheriff’s Lt. Randy Sommers said during a custody hearing. [...]
Pingback by Make Stupidity History » Foster parents who put children in cages try to regain custody — December 8, 2005 @ 1:17 am
I have been reading article on the Gravelles for some time now and I just find what they have done to be beyond stupid. I couldn’t ever even imagine what these poor children have gone through. It breaks my heart that people become foster parents for the wrong reasons, like for the money. They get more money if the child has a special need. I know a foster mom, who did not treat the adopted foster kids the same as her flesh and blood children, but she never abused them in any way. I would like it if they are convicted that they are given the same “special” treatment that they gave the chldren or “monkeys” as they have called them. I think that the Gravelles are a few clowns short of a circus. They definately have my vote for the stupidest people of the day/week/month and possibly year.
Comment by tdakpj — December 1, 2006 @ 7:30 pm