Deceased/Not Found Ca - Hannah,16 (fnd dec), Devonte,15, (dec nf) Ciera Hart,12 (fnd dec),mendocino Cty,26 Mar 2018 #7

[Kajol85]

Control. Sadism. Jen projecting her own body/food issues onto her scapegoats.

Yes, she appears to be a sadist and a control freak. The DHS paperwork made me sick

 

[disgruntled]

I should not be surprised after seeing the smiling Turpins, but to see these darling kids smiling like they are having fun and knowing two mins later they were back to hell. There was no joy. None.

Not even with the smiles because they knew what life was going to be like in the next minute.

All of those years with those monsters. I wonder how those incessantly long drives were with Jen? No talking. No laughing. No singing. And a banan each. Maybe, if they were good.

Can you imagine the accolades that woman got at those festivals? Mother of the year. Humanitarian par excellance.

Sarah could have run away. She was alone for months at a time. And Jen was in love with another.

I know for a fact that children who live a tortured existence experience genuine joy when they get a reprieve. I saw that all the time at Hephzibah House. It must be a psychologically protective thing, but those rare days when we were paraded out and fed and photographed were the best days and we were all giddy, happy in spite of the knowledge that we would be returned to our torment when the event ended. The awful truth is that the let down effect on our keeper's moods after these events seemed to create more trouble for us following a fun day and we all knew this, but it did not dampen our enthusiasm in those precious moments of relative safety and normalcy.

 

[Kajol85]

I don't think CPS did brush it aside. They did what they could by requesting a doctor's visit. I hate to play devil's advocate for the doctor, but in some of the photos the children are skin and bones but lively-looking. They're almost always healthy with engaged and active faces, glowing skin. Doctors must see so many obese children now or truly sickly ones from no exercise and poor junk food diets. The OR doctor may truly have been acting in good conscience to say that she/he could find nothing alarming. Remember how these children present: family supportive, mother-supporting-- until the deKalbs. Finally-- I remember in my childhood, there were no fat children. Most of my friends were SKINNY and I mean skinny. I am not defending these monsters, just saying that these children presented so well, that people didn't know what to believe. Until the deKalbs.

I think actually, a lot of people DID notice well before the DeKalbs... seems like those are the parenting differences Jen fell out with family and friends for back in MN.

 

[HeidiTX232]

One cousin of my kids' was at 1% for a long time, but the doctor kept measuring her regularly and while she was still actually growing, didn't regard this as a problem (she had no other health issues). But that meant regular check ups, with a long term view of checking hormone levels etc if the issue didn't fix itself over time, which it did - she was just a small kid, very active, did eat, eventually caught up. So I can understand a doctor saying "I'll take a baseline measurement, come back in x months and lets see if there's improvement and go from there". But just dismissing it as "I don't know" isn't.

But you do that for a time. It was said that they did check things out originally. Whether that was true or not, idk. But they claimed further testing by a specialist was done.

Honestly, after our specialist evaluations, we quit worrying about it so much. Monthly weight checks, supplemental feeding, all the testing (some of which takes hours), etc were done. It’s time to just live our lives. The kid is going to be really small. It isn’t because of anything we did or didn’t do and there really isn’t anything more we can do about it. What use is ongoing weight checks and evaluations going to be?

Again, that is assuming that all that was originally done. Did CPS check that? If I were them, I’d want the doctor records from Texas as well as whatever the Harts did to make sure things were looked into before writing it off.

 

[rosemadderlake]

Why would he think they would be split up?


IMO

This is so heartbreaking.... Because Devonte was voicing the threats he received from his sadistic caretakers posing as wonder moms, threats he probably received constantly.

 

[Momoffourboys]

Sorry, my reply with quote isnt working. Thank you @Mira_Eg for the links to the doc.

No wonder Devonte was so emotional. Seems to me that poor kid tried to do all the right things to satisfy these @#$&es. Yet, still faced punishment along with his siblings. I have no doubt that the kids were threatened that if they spoke up or misbehaved, they would be seperated or put into the foster system.

These poor kids. Struggling to survive.
The forced smiles. The free hugs. Such a b.s facade to fulfill some sick need these murderers had. I wonder if there is any record of donations solicited by them and where they ended up.

 

[gcharlie]

Both cars home when CPS and LE came for a visit on Friday, 7/19/2013. CPS left card. 3 hours later, LE drives by the house again and notices that the SUV is gone.

Sarah calls CPS on 7/19/2013 leaving a message that she found the card in the door while taking out the garbage.

CPS talks to Sarah on Monday, 7/22/2013 and she tells them the family went to the coast berry picking. Rest of the family not home, Jen and the kids had a festival coming up the next weekend and Sarah did not know when they would be back in town.

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/37719...J3P2I7dtOJqmmeeiRQO&show_recommendations=true

The meeting with the family was a scheduled contact visit that took place on August 26- more than a month after CPS left the card. Jen had this whole time to let any bruises heal and keep her hands of the kids. And to really work them over in preparation for interviews with CPS. It is really striking to see how little the caseworkers got out of their interviews with these children, despite extensive histories gathered from reporters of abuse and Minnesota.

It is really unfortunate that the DeKalbs did not call 911 when Hannah showed up at their door in the middle of the night.

Fleeing the home on March 23, 2018 was an established pattern for this family. One really has to wonder what condition these kids were in. My gut says the autopsies will reveal more than old broken bone.

 

[cady]

In all kinds of news reports it states that CPS showed up just after 'JH' arrived home from work, and she did not answer the door: "DeKalb said he called the state's Child Protective Services office on March 23. Officials arrived just after Jennifer Hart came home from work, but she didn't answer the door, he said. Sarah Hart came home soon after that, DeKalb said. By the next morning, the family and its vehicle were gone."
(http://www.phillytrib.com/news/hart...cle_c85e256c-13a0-5d23-ac4e-940c95c3d788.html).

I thought that JH stayed home schooling the children and did not work outside of the home?

That's why I wondered if Devonte and Hannah had run away. Maybe Jen had taken the car and looked for them, briefly. Hard to believe that she ever left any of them alone, for long. If that is what happened, Jen was not home when CPS showed up and the kids were told not to answer the door. She gets home after not finding D and H....but sees that CPS has been there. Meanwhile, Sarah is racing home to face an "emergency". Maybe. JMO
**** so, now we hear that CPS did NOT show up and leave a card???? I give up.

 

[kizzykat]

@Momoffourboys @ waschbaer



- Full report / 30 pages / better display : https://www.scribd.com/embeds/37719...J3P2I7dtOJqmmeeiRQO&show_recommendations=true
- Police report on DHS' referral (PDF) https://www.scribd.com/document/377205446/2013-LEA-Report-Redacted

Bumping these links, so many details are there. These kids tried and tried and were let down time and again. This **** needs to change. It is an absolute outrage. No child should have to endure what these children did. This is becoming so like the Turpins only festivals & rallies instead of Disney and Vegas.

Children not allowed to speak, had to raise their hands.
Disciplined for laughing at the dinner table
Markis made a strange comment about waiting till everyone else ate to see if there was anything left.
Kids were only fed "tiny portions" and were not allowed seconds.
Kids would eat freely if JH was not around, but as soon as she came in, they would stop and deny they ate.
JH would have the children do yoga, but she would have them do positions that were uncomfortable for too long.
Witnessed JH grab and drag Markis upstairs.
Children not allowed to cry. JH does not like to have the kids alone with anyone.
SH described as very cold to the children.
It was noted during CPS involvement that Abigail was 6 but looked as though she was 2 years old.
1/4/2011 Children in the classroom had been giving Hannah food and/or she's been approaching classmates for food.
1/14/11 Hannah reported to the School Nurse she had not eaten that day. (Followed up by banana & nuts shoved in her mouth by an angry JH, because Hannah was disrespectful. SH's response was "she's playing the food card, just give her water". )
After awhile the MN school stopped calling the parents about the children taking food because they didn't want the children disciplined or punished.
JH makes up extravagant stories to make herself appear a hero.

It just goes on and on.
I was on the fence about Hannah's teeth. I'm convinced now they were pulled intentionally and it was food related punishment. Teaching her a lesson, making it more difficult for her to eat.
I was thinking the kids were cooperative for photo ops because they might be rewarded with food. Now I'm thinking they cooperated so that more food than would not be withheld.
This was all some kind of sick, twisted sham. And given all the underwear photos and videos out there, it would not be shocking in the least to discover far more nefarious things going on. MOO

 

[HeidiTX232]

Why would he think they would be split up?


IMO

It is near impossible to place 3-6 kids together in fostercare. Most of our sibling groups have been three. It’s hard to keep three or more together though. And if we opened for kids today, we could take only one. Because of the group home rules here now, we couldn’t “have a heart” and take all three as we have in the past (never mind the comments about hoarding kids :sigh. In Texas, currently, except in rare circumstances, only a family with no children could accept a sibling group of six.

 

[kizzykat]

2013 Oregon DHS Timeline:
http://www.koin.com/news/washington...egon-dhs-hart-family-investigation/1136867286

 

[disgruntled]

That's why I wondered if Devonte and Hannah had run away. Maybe Jen had taken the car and looked for them, briefly. Hard to believe that she ever left any of them alone, for long. If that is what happened, Jen was not home when CPS showed up and the kids were told not to answer the door. She gets home after not finding D and H....but sees that CPS has been there. Meanwhile, Sarah is racing home to face an "emergency". Maybe. JMO
**** so, now we hear that CPS did NOT show up and leave a card???? I give up.

Still clinging to hope that this is the case. I've been reading about young people surviving in the woods and a month does not seem impossible on the west coast this time of year. These kids were familiar with camping and hiking and adept at foraging for food~ maybe there is a chance.

 

[PinkPrincessPoop]

Gosh, what made these women want kids in the first place? It's perfectly fine if you don't want kids. Not everyone is meant to have them. Of course, maybe they would simply release their hell in other way. I almost wonder if Sarah went along with it because abuse was being dealt onto the kids instead of her? (That was just pure speculation on my part, no evidence of domestic abuse I've seen so far, I'm just thinking out loud!).

It seems like at every turn, there a failure to give a really big push into really looking at these kids. But at the same time, there's only so much a normal person can do. In the end, it falls on the shoulders of CPS, and you can only hope your local CPS/worker is a competent one.

 

[?mysterian?]

And that's why they pursued the investigation. I mean, someone had to do the legwork to follow through with MN. While there was dialogue, I wonder if the problem is that what happens in one state may not transfer to another, as a cause for action. That may be the point of a national registry, so that what happens in one state is admissible or actionable in another. The OR CPS report seems amazingly thorough to me-- they just ran out of time.

There is the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect https://www.childwelfare.gov/more/?/

 

[?mysterian?]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but why the focus on an international registry for abuse cases? Oregon State KNEW about six abuse allegations in Minnesota, with two of them, I believe, being what they call "founded" and one having resulted in SH being arrested. This was in addition to the TWO separate complaints filed in Oregon. THEY KNEW. THEY KNEW. THEY KNEW. THEY KNEW.

Yes, and I'm still wondering how the Harts managed to keep all the children with what the investigator(s) discovered.

 

[kizzykat]

"DHS investigators note that Sarah is often away from the children for weeks or months at a time when Jennifer takes the six kids to music festivals. One of the family friends described Sarah as being "cold" to the kids – parading them around for pictures, but not showing them affection."
http://www.koin.com/news/washington...egon-dhs-hart-family-investigation/1136867286

When JH and the kids were gone for weeks or months attending music festivals, where did they stay? Friends? Campgrounds? Hotels + festival entrance fees would get quite costly. Were they traveling with others attending or performing in the same festival circuit? If so, why didn't any of them notice or say anything when someone they stayed with for 2 weeks saw so much and reported it? The glowing comments about the family are so contradictory to what was happening. Weeks or months in close proximity to the festival regulars, JH's mask had to slip off sooner or later, one would think. MOO

 

[fridaybaker]

I should not be surprised after seeing the smiling Turpins, but to see these darling kids smiling like they are having fun and knowing two mins later they were back to hell. There was no joy. None.

Not even with the smiles because they knew what life was going to be like in the next minute.

All of those years with those monsters. I wonder how those incessantly long drives were with Jen? No talking. No laughing. No singing. And a banan each. Maybe, if they were good.

Can you imagine the accolades that woman got at those festivals? Mother of the year. Humanitarian par excellance.

Sarah could have run away. She was alone for months at a time. And Jen was in love with another.

Yes, and even after she murdered them, one of the friends told a reporter she thought Jennifer and Sarah should be "idolized". Nice.

 

[gcharlie]

And that's why they pursued the investigation. I mean, someone had to do the legwork to follow through with MN. While there was dialogue, I wonder if the problem is that what happens in one state may not transfer to another, as a cause for action. That may be the point of a national registry, so that what happens in one state is or actionable in another. The OR CPS report seems amazingly thorough to me-- they just ran out of time.

I agree that the caseworkers preparing that report really tried to document an alarming history, looking to prior states of residence. It reads as if MN was also very concerned about the children.

Dana DeKalb's father reported the incident of Hannah running to the neighbors to CPS, but WA did closed the investigation after learning that the incident had taken place three month's prior and there were no other known incidents. I'm not sure if WA would have handled it differently if they knew of the prior history. One would hope so, but it also points to a fundamental flaw in CPS.

That flaw is for the large part, CPS is relying on others to report abuse, which will then be investigated. When you have children isolated like these kids were, this system breaks down. No teachers to get familiar with the children on a day to day basis, being able to observe and monitor them. No friends to talk to, who might then tell their parents (this is how my mother found out a neighbor was sexually abusing his daughters). Being shut inside so that neighbors have little information.

I did find it interesting that the OR CPS report failed to mention that the children were not registered as home schooled. This should have been another red flag where the mothers were deliberately attempting to avoid any kind of monitoring. They repeated this in WA as well.

CPS needs to recognize this weakness and develop improved monitoring and follow up for cases like this. IMO, this family should have been identified as high risk and instead of closing the case, there should have been further monitoring. As we have seen, the consequences of not doing so were deadly.

 

[fridaybaker]

So the actual fact that these women wanted to adopt 6 kids was a red flag just by itself do you think? It's pretty much unheard of by what you're saying it seems.

Good point. There's one ""Red Flag". Another would be that they returned the foster girl (without saying goodbye) when better (more lucrative?) goods came along. Another would be the abuse already documented on the first three.....

 

[fridaybaker]

Sorry, my reply with quote isnt working. Thank you @Mira_Eg for the links to the doc.

No wonder Devonte was so emotional. Seems to me that poor kid tried to do all the right things to satisfy these @#$&es. Yet, still faced punishment along with his siblings. I have no doubt that the kids were threatened that if they spoke up or misbehaved, they would be seperated or put into the foster system.

These poor kids. Struggling to survive.
The forced smiles. The free hugs. Such a b.s facade to fulfill some sick need these murderers had. I wonder if there is any record of donations solicited by them and where they ended up.

The whole "donation" thing is such a turn-off to me. I never donate blindly. I have vast experience with doing so, and it mostly goes to nothing good. Sometimes it goes to evil. It's taken me a long time in life to realize how much one can do to be charitable in one's daily life, with those he knows, and anything else should be vetted very carefully. It's so very easy to do harm while trying to do good.