Children Ate Walls To Stay Alive
Children Ate Walls To Stay Alive
Parents in Philadelphia are facing criminal charges after allegedly starving their four adoptive sons while keeping their sisters well-fed.One of the boys, a 19-year-old, was so malnourished he was the size of the average six-year-old.The boy, Bruce, was 4ft tall and weighed less than three stone when police took him from the family home in New Jersey.
He was in a serious condition in a cardiac unit on Tuesday.
The three others "seem to be doing well," Camden County Prosecutor Vincent Sarubbi said.
The boys' adoptive parents, Vanessa Jackson, 48, and Raymond Jackson, 50, were arrested on Friday and held on four counts of aggravated assault and 14 counts of endangering the health of a minor.
Police went to the Jacksons' home in Collingswood after being alerted by neighbours who saw Bruce scavenging in their rubbish bins in the early hours of the morning.
Investigators said Bruce and the three other boys - aged 14, 10 and nine - had been locked out of the family kitchen and fed a diet of pancake batter, peanut butter and breakfast cereal.
Their hunger forced them to chew on chipboard and insulating material in a vain effort to supplement their diet.
"This is the most horrible case we have ever encountered in our child abuse unit," Sarubbi said.
Ten managers and supervisors have been suspended from the New Jersey Youth and Family Services division over the case.
One case worker reportedly visited the family 38 times and may face criminal charges.
The department was already under scrutiny after the decomposing body of a seven-year-old was discovered with his two starving brothers in January in Newark.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/031029/140/ecg2g.html
Parents in Philadelphia are facing criminal charges after allegedly starving their four adoptive sons while keeping their sisters well-fed.One of the boys, a 19-year-old, was so malnourished he was the size of the average six-year-old.The boy, Bruce, was 4ft tall and weighed less than three stone when police took him from the family home in New Jersey.
He was in a serious condition in a cardiac unit on Tuesday.
The three others "seem to be doing well," Camden County Prosecutor Vincent Sarubbi said.
The boys' adoptive parents, Vanessa Jackson, 48, and Raymond Jackson, 50, were arrested on Friday and held on four counts of aggravated assault and 14 counts of endangering the health of a minor.
Police went to the Jacksons' home in Collingswood after being alerted by neighbours who saw Bruce scavenging in their rubbish bins in the early hours of the morning.
Investigators said Bruce and the three other boys - aged 14, 10 and nine - had been locked out of the family kitchen and fed a diet of pancake batter, peanut butter and breakfast cereal.
Their hunger forced them to chew on chipboard and insulating material in a vain effort to supplement their diet.
"This is the most horrible case we have ever encountered in our child abuse unit," Sarubbi said.
Ten managers and supervisors have been suspended from the New Jersey Youth and Family Services division over the case.
One case worker reportedly visited the family 38 times and may face criminal charges.
The department was already under scrutiny after the decomposing body of a seven-year-old was discovered with his two starving brothers in January in Newark.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/031029/140/ecg2g.html
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