While it is true children can drive you crazy, these California parents’ behavior is the height of madness. They locked up their 13 kids, ages 2 to 29, in their foul-smelling house. Who can afford a maid with 13 kids? Yet that’s not a good excuse for these kids to live in such horrid conditions. Apparently, the family was also forbidden from seeing the children. Just like in horror movies, except this is what happens in real life.
The story has become a reality show all over the Internet. Three kids were in chains when authorities arrived to rescue them. One of the mom’s sisters says she hasn’t seen her sister in 19 years and they were not allowed to see the children during that time either. It’s heartbreaking for the family yet it is kind of strange that during that time they didn’t bother to find out whether the children were okay. The kids seem to be well-taken care in public pictures but they were actually miserable.
It seems that the 13 siblings were the couple’s biological children. The couple had renewed their marriage vows three times over the past years. People who saw them in public didn’t notice any negative interactions between the kids and their parents. They seemed like a big happy family that sticks together. The kids traveled with the parents on at least three occasions, especially during their 30th wedding anniversary.
Child maltreatment is also considered a form of domestic violence. Every year, about 670,000 children across the United States suffer this fate. This excludes children who have been abused more than once each year. These children can suffer serious physical and emotional harm, and in some cases sexual abuse and even death. Unfortunately, parents were directly involved in most child abuse cases, about 81.2% of them.
Torturing innocent children is wrong. Recent studies show that children who suffer this fate are more likely to become involved in intimate partner violence (IPV) as adults. Research clearly shows that boys who witness domestic violence will do the same to their partner and children when becoming adults. It’s a vicious cycle. This type of disease needs to be uprooted and destroyed or it will be passed on to future generations.
For more information about how a Thousand Oaks domestic violence attorney can help you, call us today and schedule a case assessment. We know what to do notwithstanding your circumstances.
