Parents of Caged Children Want Them Back

**UPSyours2** · 11-02-2005, 02:00 PM

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1273177

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/guide?category=Top Videos&subcategory=&id=1273395#1273395

Parents of Caged Children Want Them Back

Michael and Sharen Gravelle Say They Want to Reach Compromise With County OfficialsNov. 2, 2005 — The Ohio couple accused of keeping some of their 11 adopted children in cages is breaking their silence and fighting to get their children back.

The children were removed from the house of Michael and Sharen Gravelle in September after a social services investigator spotted one of the children in a cage. The children range in ages from 1 to 15, and police say eight of them said they slept in cages that were less than 3 feet high.

The Gravelles told "Good Morning America" in an interview today they only kept three or four children in the enclosures and that they did so because they were severely emotionally disturbed and a threat to themselves and the other children. They said two other children "just liked sleeping in the enclosure."

"One little girl, she had a regular bed that's still in the room and she chose to get down and get in the enclosure," Sharen Gravelle said. "They play in them."

The Huron County Sheriff's Office reported finding nine cages built into the wall of an upstairs bedroom. The Huron County Department of Job and Family Services has alleged in court documents that the children, who suffer from conditions such as fetal alcohol syndrome and autism, were abused and neglected or in danger of being mistreated.

The Gravelles said there are only six enclosures and not all the children suffer from disabilities.

Michael Gravelle told police he built the cages himself in 2002 after a child therapist assured him it was the best way to protect the kids from each other. He said the cages were meant to accommodate a twin size mattress and that they are spacious, allowing a child to move around and stand up in the larger cages. They said the cages were never locked, but were fitted with alarms that alerted them when a child was up and about.

"There are no locks," Sharen Gravelle said. "We didn't even lock our house at night so why would we lock our child in?"

Michael Gravelle said he was willing to compromise with family services about keeping the children in cages if they regain custody.

"Several of the children still need to be in some type of enclosure for their safety and for the security of the whole family," Michael Gravelle said. "Yes, we would consider any type of compromise … That is our goal, to reach out to them so they will listen to us and negotiate with us in all fairness and bring our children home."

In a hearing last week, Huron County Common Pleas Court Judge Timothy Cardwell rejected a motion to allow the Gravelle's 19-month-old adopted child to be returned to a Chicago-area adoption agency.

No charges have been filed in this case.

**frugalbutterfly** · 11-02-2005, 02:42 PM

I don't know enough about this to really comment on this particular situation, only what I have seen and gone through.
I do know when someone is a threat to themsevles they do cage them. They wanted to with me because I could have injured myself more had I fallen but, I could not move by myself anyway and had round the clock bed side nurses because of the danger I would have been in had I fallen or bumped my head. There was one yong man in the rehab. when I was there. He also suffered a TBI also but, I think his from a fall, anyway, they had him caged in, he had to be because he did not understand he could hurt himself and they caught him out of bed a few times and put it on his bed. He was 18. And he could move on his own and he would trash all over the place so he was a threat to himself. Me on hte other hand, I had to have a gurard belt on at all times(I hated it) even for a few months after comming home. I also had to have someone holding on to me and the belt. Granted these are more extreme cases and I sure do hope those kids did require it and it is/was not to control them KWIM.
It does sound horrible being caged but, sometimes you become a threat to yourself and others and maybe the only way to manage the a situation ya know. It does not sound fun but sometimes your stuck KWIM
Heck I think it may have been nice to have a caged crib/bed when our kids where little to keep them safe.
I guess too it would depend on the circumstances and the childs background if they where adopted.

**canadian gardener** · 11-02-2005, 02:54 PM

sure would depend on the circumstances. At first glance the title sounds abusive, but reading it, gives a different picture.

I remember when my ds was small and he'd dart out anywhere, into traffic even, so for a time, we did a little leash thingy. Lot's of people hated the look of a kid on a leash, and didn't understand that a kid on a leash was a live healthy one, while a kid in the traffic is dead and there isn't anymore time to go back and change things.