The thirteen children

Sorry twenty first centuary

Its an unimaginably awful situation. Interesting that the mother seems to be so surprised that its somehow wrong. The grandparents hadn't seen them for 4 or 5 years I read. Why weren't those Grans on the case? If my family lost contact for so long I'd be wondering.
Poor children though. I don't suppose they'll ever recover. Tragedy.

I haven’t seen this report, but similar situations happen all over the world.There was a case in Belgium and another in Germany.It’s horrific beyond words.

There are of course cases all over the world, but that doesn’t lessen the serverity of this one with 13 young people’s lives completely and horrifically ruined at the hands of those that should be their protectors I agree Jane where has the rest of the family been and if they saw them three or four years ago didn’t they see their emaciated bodies some of the adult children are said to look like 7 year olds, that didn’t happen over night
It’s the most unbelievable situation

I can't believe how the rest of the family appear to have enabled this situation by not getting involved. Where were the neighbours and relevant authorities? Another case of ' lessons will be learned' when in fact they won't. We need to become a caring society again even if this means involving ourselves in other people's lives.

Nobody saw the children, or very rarely so had no idea of how many there were or that they were being abused. The US is a big country. The GPs could have lived 500 miles away and as we well know from GN, many GPs are stopped from seeing their DGC for all kinds of reasons.

The family lived 'under the radar', children home schooled, doing nothing that could draw the authorities attention.

This case has only hit the headlines because of the size of the family. We have had many similar cases in the UK but with only a couple of children involved in each case, so at best it is a local news item only becoming national if a child dies.

A couple of years ago a man ran a 'cult' in South London holding several women and his daughter, who was born into the cul,t as prisoners within his ordinary family house for a several decades.

Now all sorts of people, neighbours and family are adding bits to the puzzle but at the time they didn't 'like' to say anything.

I think all it takes is for good people to do nothing. Better to be thought a snooper or busy body than to allow this sort of behaviour to go unchallenged.

Unbelievable. The mother was grinning in the court room.

The parents are mentally ill, they must be. And I think home schooling should always be supervised by some sort of authority. Even if only once a year.

I thought the authorities said the children were all from the two biological parents and there was, so far, no evidence they had been sexually abused. Perhaps there has been another update since.

I read a bit from one of the neighbours who said they only saw the children late at night when they were scavenging in the bins! Excuse me, would that not be a massive cause for concern?

Reports say the father has been charged with "lewd behaviour with a child under 14". The report says there may be further charges later. Like NonnaW I wonder why neighbours who saw the children scavenging in bins didn't report it. People are leaving toys, balloons and flowers outside the house - what is the point of that! Apparently there is a fund raising site which is raising money to ensure the children receive the help they need and to meet their future education, instead of spending money on things the children will never see why not donate it to that fund.

The parents do not have to be mentally ill. Just controlling and, it has been suggested, ascribing to some fundamentalist religious beliefs. I wonder whether it will be found that the father played the tune and his wife, as much as his children , danced to it.

I was reading about it on CNN this morning. Apparently, one reason the neighbours had no idea what was happening - or how many children there were was because they slept during the day and were allowed up only at night. It’s still incredible that none of the neighbours were suspicious enough to raise the alarm. Perhaps there isn’t anywhere to report it to there?

I read a bit from one of the neighbours who said they only saw the children late at night when they were scavenging in the bins! Excuse me, would that not be a massive cause for concern?
You would think so, wouldn't you!

I agree, Oldwoman70, there is no point in leaving useless items outside the house. These children are going to need great deal of help and, whilst money is not always the answer, it will certainly go a long way to helping them achieve some kind of normal life if that is possible.

I must be a real busybody, because I find it unbelievable that nobody thought to wonder why children were scavenging the bins. I would have reported it.

Me too MissAdventure I can’t imagine seeing that and doing nothing especially if they looked so small and emaciated for their ages

There was a case a few years ago of a child starved deliberately by his parents. The school reported that he looked as if he had cancer in the weeks before he died, and he had been stealing others lunches, and eating things used for crafts. However, nobody did anything.. probably best I be quiet now, because I can't put these things out of my mind once I hear of them. I feel murderous!

The mother was very plausible, apparently MissA and assured the school that he had a problem with certain foods so they were not allowed to let him have any foods. The poor little boy died even though he had been seen by a paediatrician.
There have been other cases, the child who used to go next door and take bread off the bird table - and the neighbour did report it to Social Services but to no avail
- social workers, police, teachers, education officers all were fobbed off.

Its just so sad, isn't it? It breaks my heart. Poor wee souls.

and every time 'lessons will be learned'