Two adults have been arrested for keeping seven children with special needs in horrific conditions in their home, the Daily Mail is reporting.
Allen Richardson, 78, and Paula Sinclair, 54, were arrested and charged following an investigation by Child Protective Services to remove the adopted children with special needs from their Texas residence. According to police, the children, who were between the ages of 13 to 16, were underfed and locked up in a single room. The room was used as a store for clothes and boxes, which made the living space for the kids even smaller.
Most times, the children were left unattended and would often urinate on themselves. One of the children was confirmed to have Down syndrome and was wearing a dirty diaper when he was taken out of the house. Case workers stated that all the kids had learning difficulties and yet not a single one had been inside a classroom.
Sinclair and Richardson are not married.
Sheriff Troy E. Nehls said it was a pathetic situation of adults exploiting children who could not think or fend for themselves. He said that he had not seen anything more unacceptable within the norms of society.
Texas man, woman charged after police found seven children with special needs locked in a closet https://t.co/naVNn5DH2z pic.twitter.com/y7lotpY5xg
— WTVC NewsChannel 9 (@newschannelnine) December 6, 2016
“I cannot think of a more deplorable situation than what we have learned in this case. These people are taking advantage of a lousy situation at the expense of children who cannot fend for themselves. It is absolutely heart-breaking.”
Parents who adopt children with special needs can receive up to $540 per child every month.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said a 7-year-old boy had died at the home in January of 2011. According to Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Tiffani Butler, the seven other children were present in the house when he died. They were not removed from the Richmond residence, and no charges were filed for the child’s death.
A sheriff’s spokesperson said that investigations had been delayed because both parties had refused to cooperate and help with the investigation. They have since been charged with kidnapping because the children were holed up in a room and kept against their will. Both Sinclair and Richardson are now being held on a $100,000 bond. As of the time of this report, it was not confirmed if they had any lawyers assigned to their case.
State Child Protective Services were alerted by a case worker who visited the home and saw the deplorable conditions the children were living under. The eagle-eyed worker got court approval to remove the teenagers the next day. Richardson and Sinclair had argued with authorities and denied any wrongdoing when they were charged.
Seven children rescued from “deplorable” conditions in suburban Texas home. https://t.co/eGf2Pwx6WJ
— KWTX News 10 (@kwtx) December 6, 2016
The children were found in a five-by-eight-foot room, which could also pass for a closet. The room was strewn with human waste, with bags of feces scattered all over the place. The children were beaten if they attempted to leave the room. They were taken to the hospital and will be released into state custody. Sinclair and her husband, who has not been charged, had adopted all the children.
This is not the first time that foster parents would end up being abusive to children. According to the Inquisitr , a 15-year-old boy was chained and made to wear a dead chicken around his neck. He had his fingers broken with a set of pliers to teach him a lesson.
North Carolina boy chained with dead chicken around neck sues foster mom https://t.co/X9DkxSOWOj pic.twitter.com/hbl9T2S5Tr
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) December 6, 2016
The North Carolina boy’s foster parents, Dorian Harper and Wanda Larson, both 60, had four other children under their care. However, it was the boy who was chained to the front porch that caught the brunt of their twisted form of abuse. Harper worked as an emergency room nurse, while Larson was a former social worker. The boy was found November of 2013 by police officers who did not buy his story that he had been chained like a dog to stop him from running away.
[Featured Image by Bubutu/iStockPhoto]
