Social worker should be held liable; Gravelles should never have been given custody

Parents of caged kids get 2 years
Couple free on bond pending their appeal
Sheeran, Thomas. Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 16, 2007.

Two of their former adopted children smiled as a husband and wife were sentenced to two years in prison each for forcing some of their 11 adopted, special-needs children to sleep in cages.

Sharen and Michael Gravelle were released on bond after their sentencing yesterday by Huron County Common Pleas Judge Earl McGimpsey pending an expected appeal of their convictions.

"Mom, you always said whatever you think you are doing in private, it will be brought to the public," said a statement read on behalf of one of their former children, a girl who was one of the two who appeared in court. "So in this case, I would say it's your turn."

The other former adopted child, a boy, tried to control his laughter as Sharen Gravelle cried and told the judge before her sentencing that her problem derived in part from a child-welfare system indifferent to the destructive behavior of some of her children.

The two children sat elbow-to-elbow in court. The judge ordered that their names and other identifying information, including ages, be kept confidential to protect their privacy

The Gravelles sat impassively as the judge handed down the sentence, with Sharen Gravelle taking notes as she did throughout her trial. Michael Gravelle held his face in his left hand as the judge sentenced him.

The girl seemed to blame her former adoptive mother more than Michael Gravelle."I'll admit Dad wasn't as bad as Mom. He did whatever Mom told him to do. It was like he had no backbone when he was supposed to be the man of the family, always scared to go against whatever she said," her statement said.

Sharen Gravelle told the court the children were never confined as punishment but rather to protect them, including a child who wanted to jump out a second-floor window.

"Would you prefer that we let them jump? Either way, we'd be here. The difference is they're still alive," she said in a statement that lasted 26 minutes.

The 11 children, who suffered from problems such as fetal alcohol syndrome and a disorder that involves eating nonfood items, ranged in age from 1 to 14 when authorities removed them in September 2005 from the Gravelles' home in Wakeman, about 60 miles west of Cleveland. They were placed in foster care in fall 2005 and the couple lost custody in March.

The Gravelles each could have received up to five years in prison for each of the four felony counts of child endangering they were convicted of in December. They also were convicted of seven misdemeanors.The couple has said they needed to keep some of the children in enclosed beds with alarms to protect them from their own dangerous behavior and stop them from wandering at night.

Prosecutors said the Gravelles were cruel. Witnesses, including the sheriff and some of the children, said the cages were urine-stained and lacked pillows or mattresses, but a social worker and others who testified for the defense said they never witnessed abuse. They said the children's behavior improved because of the cages, which were painted bright blue and red.

One Gravelle child testified he was forced to live in a bathroom for 81 days, sleeping in a bathtub because of a bed-wetting problem. The Gravelles' attorneys said the boy exaggerated the length of his bathroom stay, and an expert for the defense testified that the technique helped.

Michael Gravelle told the judge yesterday the problems began when they took in a group of siblings with an array of behaviorial and emotional problems.

"What do you do with these kids?" Michael Gravelle asked. "I prayed constantly for the answer."He said the enclosures resulted from the suggestions of a social worker, who recommended strict rules to improve the children's behavior.

"I'm begging you," Michael Gravelle told the judge. "I do not deserve jail."

Prosecutor Russell Leffler said the Gravelles deserved prison and that the number of children or their behavior were not excuses for how they were treated.

The former foster son who appeared in court yesterday said in a statement that he was thankful that his time with the Gravelles was behind him.

With his new foster parents, "I don't have to steal food. I can use the bathroom whenever I want," he said. "Never again will I have to sleep in a box."