The local report said 11
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Eleven Children Found Caged In Northern Ohio Home
Investigator First Spotted Face Peering Out Of Cage
UPDATED: 5:22 pm EDT September 13, 2005
WAKEMAN, Ohio -- When deputies removed 11 disabled children from a northern Ohio home where they were made to sleep in cages, the adoptive parents didn't seem to see anything wrong with the children's treatment, authorities said.
"The impression that we got was that they felt it was OK," said Huron County sheriff's Lt. Randy Sommers told The (Lorain) Morning Journal.
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Mike and Sharen Gravelle denied in a custody hearing Monday that they'd abused or neglected the children -- ages 1 to 14, with conditions that included autism and fetal alcohol syndrome. No charges had been filed as of Monday night, and telephones at the county prosecutor's office repeatedly rang busy Tuesday morning.
The children were placed with four foster families Monday and were doing well, said Erich Dumbeck, director of the Huron County Department of Job and Family Services. He said he saw them hugging their new foster parents.
"I guess you could say relieved," Dumbeck said Tuesday of their demeanor. "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."
The Gravelles said a psychiatrist recommended they make the children sleep in the 40-inch tall cages that were stacked in bedrooms on the second floor of their house, County Prosecutor Russell Leffler said. Leffler told the Norwalk Reflector that he is reviewing the case.
The Gravelles invited a Job and Family Services investigator inside Friday when he stopped by their house outside Wakeman, a city of roughly 1,000 people about 50 miles west of Cleveland.
The investigator spotted a face peering out of one of the cages and alerted authorities, Sommers said. Deputies returned to the house that evening.
Some of the cages were rigged with alarms, Sommers said; one had a dresser in front of it.
The investigator was sent after the county department received a complaint last week. Dumbeck would not say who notified the agency.
None of the children were adopted through Huron County although the family has lived there for 10 years. Most were adopted through other Ohio counties, and two through other states, Dumbeck said, declining to identify the locations. He said his agency was trying to determine how the adoptions originated.
"I don't believe there were any case workers checking in with this family," he said. "These kids were home schooled and they lived in the country where neighbors were spread out."
Dumbeck said it was unclear whether the Gravelles received adoption subsidies, which can range from $100 to $1,000 a month.
"I would say it's unusual that they adopted 11 kids," he said. "That's not typically the norm."
A woman who identified herself as Sharen Gravelle's mother but refused to give her name said the children were happy and loved.
"This year they have played and had fun and laughed like no other children have, which they have never been able to do," she said.
Dozens of toys -- plastic cars, tricycles, sliding boards and an overturned skateboard near a wooden half-pike ramp -- were scattered around the family's yard Tuesday morning. A black pot belly pig, roosters, chickens and dogs roamed the property in a rural neighborhood.
No one answered knocks at several doors, and the house was dark inside.
On the patio of the large, gray home sat a box holding numerous pairs of children's shoes and boots. There were several storage sheds on the property, including one that housed seven bicycles piled on top of each other.
Across from the main house, there was a smaller structure that appeared under construction. A wooden cross was placed in front of that building and a bus with the words "Community Church" was parked outside. It appeared the bus had been converted into a workshop because inside of it there were work benches and several hand tools.
Sommers saw no signs the children had been malnourished or beaten, but they were sent to a hospital in nearby Norwalk for examination.
In March, a couple who had recently moved from Ohio to Florida were charged with neglect when their adopted teenager was discovered malnourished in a crib-like cage. The then-17-year-old weighed 49 pounds, investigators said.
The twin-bed-sized crib had been prescribed when the boy was much younger and lived in Ohio. It had been fitted with a lid, chains and a padlock, investigators said.
Local Family Reacts To Accusations
Many parents can't imagine caring for a family of 11 children, especially when the kids have special needs.
A local family in a similar situation said when you take on that responsibility, parents need to ask for help, NBC 4's Karin Hirschey reported.
Linda Eckfeld and her husband have adopted 19 children with special needs. She said the discovery of the 11 disabled children sleeping in cages was disturbing.
But, she said she's not ready to pass judgment on the parents involved.
"My first thought was, did this family have the support services that they need to provide adequate care for their children?" Eckfeld said "And if they didn't have that, why didn't they?"
Eckfeld has seven nurses working around the clock to help her family. She knows she couldn't do it alone, which is a mistake some parents can make.
"They maybe don't open themselves to the opportunities and people who provide services that they need and become overwhelmed," she said.
She said adoption requires a time, financial and faith commitment and with help, it's worth it.
"These children have value beyond expression, but if we don't open them up and allow them to give us their gift, then they live their life with their little package never opened," Eckfeld said.
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Copyright 2005 by nbc4i.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
