Friday, October 23, 2009

Ohio: Children Sue Over Adoption

Two Ohio teenagers forced by their adoptive parents to sleep in cages have sued the couple and caseworkers who arranged the adoptions.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland on behalf of Sharen Torrence, 18, and Michael Gravelle, 17. Their adoptive parents, Michael and Sharen Gravelle, named the children after them.

The couple are now serving two-year prison terms for abusing some of their 11 adopted special-needs children. The suit also names caseworkers and the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services in Cincinnati.

It said the Gravelles were unfit to be parents and should never have gotten custody of the children. Julie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office, declined to comment.

National Briefing - Midwest - Ohio - Children Sue Over Adoption - NYTimes.com

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I remember this case and it was just around the time I began to become aware of the human trafficking industry called child protection.

The social workers advised the adoptive parents to put the enclosures over the beds. Apparently they were allowed to adopt many special needs children and they couldn't keep up with them getting out of bed at night. So the dorm like bedroom had enclosures over the bed.

I did feel a little bad for the parents. What they did was approved by child protective services; thus, since the parents were convicted--- ergo child protective services policies are criminal.