CA - Joshua Tree parents arrested for keeping kids in a box for 4 years, Mar 2018 *Charges Dropped*

[JoeFromLB]

This is Breaking News right now in southern California. Horrific.

The children were aged 11, 13, and 14.

http://www.kesq.com/news/joshua-tre...r-keeping-kids-in-a-box-for-4-years/709639700

 

[bears10]

This is Breaking News right now in southern California. Horrific.

The children were aged 11, 13, and 14.

http://www.kesq.com/news/joshua-tre...r-keeping-kids-in-a-box-for-4-years/709639700

$100,000 bail??!!! That’s it??!!!

 

[katydid23]

JOSHUA TREE, CA. —
.....KABC reported: ....[snipped] ..... deputies went to a property in the 7000 block of Sunfair Road in Joshua Tree about 11 a.m. Wednesday for an area check when they found an apparently abandoned travel trailer and a large rectangular plywood box.

The property had no electricity or running water and mounds of trash and human feces were found throughout the property, the statement said.

During the investigation, deputies discovered three children, 11, 13 and 14 lived in the plywood box, which measured about 20 feet long by 4 feet high and 10 feet wide, the statement said. The children told investigators they had been living in the box for about four years.

http://breaking911.com/breaking-cal...box-4-years/?onesignal_site_push_notification

 

[Meryl12]

I hope there will be many more charges following, X3. The poor children. I hope this type of child (and animal) abuse results in LONG sentences.
I hope they also took the 30 or 40 poor wretched cats to an animal shelter, or at least called an animal shelter to come and rescue them.

 

[TeaTime]

There are kids all over the world living in worse conditions than a 200 square foot wooden box and we don't consider them abused, they are just poor.

So how does this one equal abuse? Poor isn't abusive.

 

[Lilibet]

Video with photos of the property. Toys and bikes strewn around. We’re they allowed out to play?

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/03/01/teens-found-living-in-a-box/

 

[Lilibet]

There are kids all over the world living in worse conditions than a 200 square foot wooden box and we don't consider them abused, they are just poor.

So how does this one equal abuse? Poor isn't abusive.

No, poor isn’t abusive. But in this country (and even in third world countries) one can be poor but not live in filth amidst 30 cats. In the U.S there are programs that provide food, especially for children. There are organizations that can help with getting a safe living space...if you seek them out.

Here is what is available in San Bernardino County.

http://hs.sbcounty.gov/HS/Pages/default.aspx

http://hs.sbcounty.gov/tad/Pages/Community-Resources.aspx
Dial 211 for many services.

I suspect there are mental health issues with this couple. But the children deserve better, and better is available.

 

[Meryl12]

No, poor isn’t abusive. But in this country (and even in third world countries) one can be poor but not live in filth amidst 30 cats. In the U.S there are programs that provide food, especially for children. There are organizations that can help with getting a safe living space...if you seek them out.

Here is what is available in San Bernardino County.

http://hs.sbcounty.gov/HS/Pages/default.aspx

http://hs.sbcounty.gov/tad/Pages/Community-Resources.aspx
Dial 211 for many services.

I suspect there are mental health issues with this couple. But the children deserve better, and better is available.

Thank you Lilibet. I started a reply, but you got in first.
Your reply says it all. Especially your last statements.
I also agree that there are probably some mental health problems with the parents. The children needed to be rescued from that situation. So do the the 30 or 40 poor cats, I do hope someone notified an animal rescue center.

 

[bluesneakers]

This goes way beyond poverty:

During the investigation, it was discovered that the three children had been forced to live in the "approximately 20 feet long by 4 feet high by 10 feet wide" plywood box underneath the trailer for four years.

 

[gitana1]

$100,000 bail??!!! That’s it??!!!

Children are considered property in this country. That's all I can say.

 

[gitana1]

There are kids all over the world living in worse conditions than a 200 square foot wooden box and we don't consider them abused, they are just poor.

So how does this one equal abuse? Poor isn't abusive.

Weren't they locked inside the box?

 

[verbonica]

Weren't they locked inside the box?

I don't see it reported that they were locked in the box. Pictures here show an open-ended boxy "structure".

http://abc7.com/joshua-tree-couple-arrested-after-3-kids-found-living-in-box/3161477/

It's hotter than Hades out there much of the year! I don't think that people could survive living in a metal motorhome for all of that time, so maybe the wooden thing was more tolerable. They were out there surviving for a long time. Awful, in any event, though.

 

[violet67]

I don't see it reported that they were locked in the box. Pictures here show an open-ended boxy "structure".

http://abc7.com/joshua-tree-couple-arrested-after-3-kids-found-living-in-box/3161477/

It's hotter than Hades out there much of the year! I don't think that people could survive living in a metal motorhome for all of that time, so maybe the wooden thing was more tolerable. They were out there surviving for a long time. Awful, in any event, though.

the entire family was living in this box...really really sad and imo a total mental health issue.

 

[verbonica]

the entire family was living in this box...really really sad and imo a total mental health issue.

There are whole villages of "residences" like this down in Tijuana, and elsewhere in Mexico... in fact in lots of places all over the world. It's truly awful; could be mental health issues here, but could be other reasons too.

 

[katydid23]

Those poor kids. What can you do , day and night, for years, out in the remote desert, in a box under a trailer?

 

[human]

People live in horror all over the world. That should not be the standard for the US. The standard should be to get out of the kind of living. Evolve.

 

[Lilibet]

Those poor kids. What can you do , day and night, for years, out in the remote desert, in a box under a trailer?

I don’t get the impression that they were always in the box. It indicates they lived in it for about four years. But there are toys and bikes scattered around the property, so I expect they may have been outside part of the time. At least I hope so.

 

[webaddict]

To my knowledge no reports that the kids were chained...and there were toys outside. I am an American living in India and yeah, we see families live like this here (without the 30-40 cats but sometimes chickens and what not in their homes). My first thought was about their education. Do they go to school?

 

[katydid23]

I don’t get the impression that they were always in the box. It indicates they lived in it for about four years. But there are toys and bikes scattered around the property, so I expect they may have been outside part of the time. At least I hope so.

Yes, I didn't mean they were in it 24/7. But still, it is the desert. Normally one would want a refuge from the harsh elements. Like at least a shack or a trailer to go inside and listen to an am radio and cook a chicken, play some games.

Did they go to school? It doesn't seem so...:cry:

 

[human]

Is this where you would like your grandchildren to live?

With child welfare laws the issue that comes into play is health and safety. Living among animal and human feces with no water is a risk. This is more than a messy house.

If this abode is fine for you, your children or your grandchildren, then all right.

For me, it is not ok