Fuller picture emerging of Ohio children forced into cages

Tuesday, 13 September 2005 19:00

Once again, a story is emerging of a reclusive couple who adopts--and then horrendously abuses--large numbers of children with disabilities, to the supposed surprise of everyone.

National news coverage is now reporting the story of a Clarksfield Township, Ohio couple, Sharen and Michael Gravelle, who forced 11 children to sleep in small, wood and wire cages. While much of the coverage focuses on how happy and well-fed the children appeared, a more accurate picture is emerging as local newspapers begin to investigate. The Lorain, Ohio Morning Journal reports that the 11 children, who are all African-American, "were initially foster children, who were eventually adopted" through private adoption agencies by the Gravelles, who are white. The couple "home schooled" the children, and even built a church on their property. The children, ranging in age from 1 to 14, had problems including autism, fetal alcohol syndrome, HIV and reactive attachment disorder, says the paper. Still to be learned are exactly how many dozens of home visits were made by foster care and adoption agencies and why authorities did not discover or act on the abuse sooner. The Morning Journal also reports that possible abuse of the children was reported by Sharen Gravelle in legal separation papers filed in 2001 with the Huron County Common Pleas Court.

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The National Association to Protect Children is a national, pro-child, anti-crime membership association. We are founded on the belief that our first and most sacred obligation as parents, citizens, and members of the human species is the protection of children from harm.

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