Foster care neglect, abuse widespread as Ohio case suggests

Cleveland,
Ohio - GHN News - Foster care abuses including torture are now being uncovered in a
recent legal case filing   of two girls who were placed with a sex offender and his wife, reflecting the problems that exist in the placement of children. 

The attorney filing the case in Cuyahoga County represents two girls who say they suffered "heinous and

unforgivable abuse" accuse counselors of negligence and Michael Gravelle
and Sharen Curtis-Tipperman fka Sharen Gravelle of physically torturing
them.

The
girls were subjected to a reported 7 years of torture, "Including being
caged in kennels like animals.  They are now 11 and 12 years old
respectively.

Counselors
had placed them in the home of Michael Gravelle, an admitted child
molester, and his wife Sheren after an adoption assessment that included
the finding there had been four prior marriages between them.

The
girls were two of 11 foster children allowed the Gravelles, despite the
problems in their past.  According to the lawsuit filed the girls had
been "caged in unsanitary kennel-like structures, complete with alarms,
where they were required to sleep, and which were used for discipline.

They
were rescued by authorities, having lived with the Gravelle's during
the period 1997 - 2005, at which time authorities rescued them.

Other
tortures included being "hosed down outside, regardless of the season
or temperature after incidents of enuresis.  Their heads were forced
into a toilet for punishment or a sock stuffed in their mouth while they
were physically abused.    

Collin
Myers, the social worker in this case, is accused of failing to
discover that Michael Gravelle had molested his own daughter for two
years between 1984 and 1986, something he had admitted to Lorain County
authorities.  During sexual abuse counseling he was said to be "very
uncooperative."

The
complaint states, "Accessible records further document that the
Gravelles were ineffective in their parenting skills and had failed in
their relationships with their biological children. The Gravelles had
great difficulty disciplining children they believed were acting out,
and they resorted to grossly inappropriate disciplinary tactics,
including locking their children in the basement of their home, where
they were forced to live at times without utilities, in a dangerous
circumstance unsuitable for children."

The
Gravelles were convicted in December 2006 of four felony counts of
child endangering, two first-degree misdemeanor counts of child
endangering, and five first-degree misdemeanor counts of child abuse,
according to the recent complaint.  They are seeking damages from the
foster parents as well as the placement authorities.

Studies made in the 1990's found widespread neglect and abuse of children in foster care.  In Louisiana the percentage was 21%.