WV - Donald Lantz Jeanne Whitefeather charged after adoptive children found locked in filthy barn room - October 3, 2023

[Baciagalupo]

There needs to be so much more oversight about adoptive parents (and parents that homeschool), So many horror stories.

 

[Goecke]

Before I read anything about the race of the kids/a possible racist component, my first thought was "it sounds like they adopted kids because that was as close as they could get to owning slaves".
I wonder if hate crime charges can be filed in this case. These two need to be locked up for a LONG time.

 

[AislingGray18]

From what I can tell, they sold their very rural property in February 2024
Such a rural area, I want to know how they adopted 5 black children, in a town of less than a thousand people?

What the hell? Where did those kids come from???
MOO, I have no links of proof, just a real estate listing that I won't link because I don't have proof

 

[AislingGray18]

Yes this article from New York Post confirms it.

Wealthy white couple allegedly kept their black adopted children as slaves, locked them in barn: report

Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen new charges on Tuesday after several kids were found locked in a crumbling shed in ratty clothing, acc…

nypost.com

"Prosecutors also said they have evidence the couple moved from Washington after they learned they were under investigation for abuse and neglect."

What I want to know is how they got DCYF to let them adopt 5 black children, when they lived in a town with absolutely no black population. Took those kids from whatever city they were familiar with and dumped them off in the middle of nowhere -literally the middle of nowhere.

As a Washington state resident, and former foster parent to at risk teens of color, this reeks. I know DCYF like the back of my hand and this ....I know when they sent my nephew who is a black male, to a rural locked in place, it was horrific for him and he tried to run, but he was so far away from any town or city, he felt kidnapped. We thankfully got him placed with another one of my sister in laws where he has thrived for the last few years.

 

[Goecke]

Given what I know about the foster/adoption system in the US (which admittedly isn't a lot), I wouldn't be surprised if all five kids were biological siblings. The system likes to keep siblings together whenever possible but there's not a lot of people willing to adopt five kids at once.

 

[AislingGray18]

Given what I know about the foster/adoption system in the US (which admittedly isn't a lot), I wouldn't be surprised if all five kids were biological siblings. The system likes to keep siblings together whenever possible but there's not a lot of people willing to adopt five kids at once.

It is likely. I am just floored....looking at their previous towns census, they have zero population of African Americans, it is that rural.
This means those teens were removed from everything they ever knew, including the city they are from and any friends they may have made along the way, case workers, counselors, doctors, all of the safety nets, these kids had none.

I would be willing to bet they had many, many DCYF calls in Washington State that went answered before they hightailed it and sold their secluded ranch up near the border.

Ugh I hope those children are returned to Washington State and not left in WV. They may have family here or stable adults. But maybe not, these kids are at an age where they can, and many will, refuse to be adopted and run back to bios. I don't know if that is fire to frying pan but WV is not where they need to be raised. Let them come back to where they have may cousins and extended family who may not be able to take them, but still can be in their lives.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

DailyMail.com has obtained a half dozen police reports giving more shocking details – including how two of their children ran away from home, and they allegedly forced one of them at gunpoint to stay in his room while using a bullwhip for punishment.

The family moved to Sissonville, West Virginia, 15 miles north of Charleston, the state capital. When they arrived, Lantz immediately complained that the barn was too close to the road and he was unhappy at the lack of privacy, according to one neighbor.

Donald Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Whitefeather, 62, have pleaded not guilty to charges including human trafficking and forced labor of a minor

White West Virginia couple fled across country when CPS pried

Facing prying eyes from the sheriff's office in Tonasket, Washington, Donald Lantz and his wife Jeanne Whitefeather abruptly sold their ranch early last year, sources say.

www.dailymail.co.uk

A trial date for the couple has been set for 9 September.

West Virginia white couple alleged to have kept five adopted black children 'locked in barn and used as slaves'

A white couple from West Virginia have been accused of child neglect after allegedly forcing their adopted black children to work as 'slaves' and locking them in a barn. Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, pleaded not guilty at Kanawha County court on Tuesday to multiple...

uk.news.yahoo.com

 

[Goecke]

Some things that stuck out to me from the article:
- All five kids are from Chicago and are ‘more or less a family unit'
- The children were adopted when Lantz and Whitefeather lived in Washington
- The children were mostly homeschooled
- There's prior CPS involvement which may have spurred the move from WA to WV. The one of the daughters ran away in 2022 and the oldest boy was hospitalized for mental health issues the same year and told CPS that he and his sister were being abused.

 

[Lilibet]

This is horrible. Of course they home-schooled. I have friends who home-school, but so often on WS we see home-schooling used to avoid abuse detection.

Thank goodness these children survived. This reminds me so much of the Hart family (white parents, adopted black children) who moved to avoid investigation and ultimately drove the whole family off a cliff into the ocean in California.

Hart family murders - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org