ChopSuey Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Unbelievable!!! ANAHEIM, CALIF. ?Anaheim police arrested two parents Tuesday night who they say kept their 11-year-old autistic son in a cage, possibly in an effort to control his violent outbursts, officials said. The parents were arrested after child protective services and police were dispatched to their home on a tip that a boy there was being kept in a large dog kennel, said police Lieut. Bob Dunn. ?There?s varied reports on how long this was going on,? Dunn said. The identities of the parents were not immediately available and Dunn said it was unclear who called in the tip about the boy. Child protective services went to the home about 6:15 p.m., followed soon after by police. When officers went inside, they found the cage. Inside it was a mattress and other amenities, Dunn said. The boy is unable to communicate and has violent episodes, Dunn said. The child?s outbursts have grown more violent over the years and investigators learned his parents may have kept him in the cage in an effort to control him. The cage was big enough that the boy wasn?t forced into an ?unnatural position,? Dunn said. Other than the cage, there was no other signs of potential abuse, Dunn said, adding that the boy was well nourished and had no visible injuries. He was taken to a local hospital to ensure he was physically OK. The boy also has a younger brother and sister. Other relatives live in the home along with a second family that?s renting a room, Dunn said. The second family is out of town and police are trying to reach them so they can be interviewed. In the meantime, investigators were expected to begin interviewing neighbours Wednesday. The parents have been booked on suspicion of felony child endangerment and false imprisonment. The boy and his two siblings are now in the custody of child protective services. Investigators, meanwhile, are working on getting translators so they can interview the parents, who are of Vietnamese descent, Dunn said. Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/07/02/autistic_boy_11_allegedly_kept_in_dog_cage_parents_arrested.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gameboy1977 Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 yes, how the evil parents are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vykranth Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Parents might have been desesparate to take care of their son and unaware of the help they could receive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrobwx71 Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 The Owner of the paint store I run has an Autistic child. They were told, by his doctors he would never interact with people, he would never talk, he would not contribute and should be institutionalized.His Mother quit her job and for the childs first 8 years worked with him in their home. Although he is "different", He has graduated regular High School and is in his second year of college. He plans to become a meteorologist.He is very good with numbers and has an almost photographic memory as in when he reads something he can recite it word for word at a later date. He also obtained his drivers license and drives a car alone. He does not like to be touched physically ie, shaking hands, hugged, etc but is very sociable and talkative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacer Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 My girlfriend is a behavior therapist and she used to work directly with autistic kids every day. Some days she would come home crying because some of the kids that are really low on the spectrum or are otherwise harder to deal with bite, scratch, punch, scream, and do all sorts of things. So I know, indirectly, how bad it can really get. So I can understand the desperation that these parents must have been feeling. But never, for any reason, is it ok to cage a human being; especially a child and especially a child with a disability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Surely they could have spoken to a doctor or social services, who could then have referred them to specialist help. Even if they didn't know how or where to get help they should never cage a child, it's not even last resort it should never happen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macoman Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 My daughter is autistic, seven years old and while she does not talk like a regular seven years old, she can talk a little and know how to communicate. She also developed weird things like when something is bad she will hit herself on the forehead. We tried our best to let her know that is not OK to do that but it is something that is natural for them to do it and sometimes it get worse, the older they get. We are trying our best to educate and teach her the right thing. We just hope that she can able to live in the future a normal life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konstantine Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 She also developed weird things like when something is bad she will hit herself on the forehead. I do that sometimes when I realize I'm mistaken and fix it. Does that mean I'm autistic? It's ok to have some "weird" things. It would be bad if she hit her head with a club. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yazoo Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 They authorities will take him and lock him in a bigger cage that's what will happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
game_over Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 This just sounds like very poor decision making rather than direct neglect... not saying it's ok but i hope they get the help they need rather than slapped in the face with the law. I have a few autistic children in my family and can see first hand how hard it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skiver Veteran Posted July 3, 2014 Veteran Share Posted July 3, 2014 Its quite sad, I don't know anyone with Autisim but I have heard about how difficult it can be depending where on the spectrum the person is. I don't doubt the parents did this out of desperation and I hope Child Services work WITH the parents instead of just throwing them away and adopting the kids out. It isn't right but I'm sure a bit of support would make a world of difference. Andre S. 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted July 3, 2014 MVC Share Posted July 3, 2014 They authorities will take him and lock him in a bigger cage that's what will happen. Precisely this! My girlfriend is a behavior therapist and she used to work directly with autistic kids every day. Some days she would come home crying because some of the kids that are really low on the spectrum or are otherwise harder to deal with bite, scratch, punch, scream, and do all sorts of things. So I know, indirectly, how bad it can really get. So I can understand the desperation that these parents must have been feeling. But never, for any reason, is it ok to cage a human being; especially a child and especially a child with a disability. I'm not sure what you mean... We cage humans all the time... We have prisons that are little more that human kennels.. We have mental health institutions which are also nothing more than human kennels... I'm not sure I understand the immediate jump to abuse and inhumane treatment in this case. Depending on how violent and dangerous this person had become they may have realistically had little choice. From the little information given in the OP there wasn't any signs of outright physical abuse and the cage was neither small nor missing "amenities". When evaluating a situation like this to make it OK to both imprison the parents and to place the kids under state care we should be careful to look at the entirety of the issue. Depending on the mental stability of the person we have no better solution in our society than this. Of course, this isn't to say that we are in a great position as a society, to the contrary. But we have to scale our response in proportion to our current reality. I'm not sure the cage of a mental institution would be much better. Assuming his parents only caged him in an effort to protect themselves and their other children while affording him the best care and life they reasonably could. With the level of abuse in our mental healthcare facilities I am not sure I would want to send my kid there... I'm not sure being strapped to a bed so you can't move and flooded with drugs to zombify a person is really any more humane... But I'll let everyone go back to armchair persecution of people in a very sad situation who are trying to chart the best course they can for themselves and their children, all of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacer Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 There is a huge difference between a mental institution, prison, and a cage. At least in a mental institution the child could be receiving medical help and therapy to improve their quality of life. I think it's a little silly to completely shun the option of admission into a facility because of a belief that all institutions engage in patient abuse. Resorting to crating is unacceptable. A cage is a cage. There is no chance for improvement, no treatment, and no long-term benefit to either party. And it's completely demeaning. Autistic people are still intelligent, self-aware human beings, and they are fully aware of their environment. They simply lack the processing ability and understanding of normal people. If the parents were at their wits end, then they should have sought help from social services or some other institution that is equipped to handle such a situation. You're right. It is a sad situation. But it's still no excuse. theyarecomingforyou 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Gibs Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 There is a huge difference between a mental institution, prison, and a cage. At least in a mental institution the child could be receiving medical help and therapy to improve their quality of life. I think it's a little silly to completely shun the option of admission into a facility because of a belief that all institutions engage in patient abuse. Resorting to crating is unacceptable. A cage is a cage. There is no chance for improvement, no treatment, and no long-term benefit to either party. And it's completely demeaning.I don't think they caged him 100% of the time. Unless I misread something I believe it was only during his violent outbursts. They have two other kids and if the outbursts got bad enough, the other kids could be endangered too. Is it the best situation? No. Could it have been the only option the parents had left? Possibly. For all of you saying that well he could have been booked into a mental institution, sure that is a possibility but maybe cost was an issue? I don't think it's cheap to keep a kid at a permanent care facility and maybe the parents didn't have good insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted July 3, 2014 MVC Share Posted July 3, 2014 There is a huge difference between a mental institution, prison, and a cage. At least in a mental institution the child could be receiving medical help and therapy to improve their quality of life. I think it's a little silly to completely shun the option of admission into a facility because of a belief that all institutions engage in patient abuse. Resorting to crating is unacceptable. A cage is a cage. There is no chance for improvement, no treatment, and no long-term benefit to either party. And it's completely demeaning. Autistic people are still intelligent, self-aware human beings, and they are fully aware of their environment. They simply lack the processing ability and understanding of normal people. If the parents were at their wits end, then they should have sought help from social services or some other institution that is equipped to handle such a situation. You're right. It is a sad situation. But it's still no excuse. What is the difference? Honestly. I have a family member who has mental health issues and is occasionally violent towards other patients of staff at the mental health institutions he is often in. The solution? To inject him with a ton of psychotherapy drugs, strap him to the bed, and leave him alone for a while. Once he regains his normal privileges he is allowed free roam of the locked down mental health ward, but it is effectively a prison. He doesn't get the "freedom" that the rest of us get. He can't decide to go on the Internet (phones and computers are not allowed on restricted metal health wards), nor play a video game, nor decide to leave. The difference between a mental health institution and caging in the house is merely the assumption of quality of life and treatment. We give a free pass to people wearing lab coats or who are "in positions of authority". From there we assume that if a person is using similar methods at home they are doing so to the detriment of the other human being and we encourage them to let someone else do the caging. People here are arguing against "caging a human being" while actively encouraging the same... Unless they were giving the child a substandard quality of life (stuff like food deprivation, living in feces, confined to the cage 24/7, etc.) I don't see caging alone as bad; especially for a very violent individual. As I said earlier, caging is the only option we have as a society anyway; if the parents are being truthful. It will end up that way no matter what. Just some variations have pretty nice window dressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Precisely this! I'm not sure what you mean... We cage humans all the time... We have prisons that are little more that human kennels.. We have mental health institutions which are also nothing more than human kennels... I'm not sure I understand the immediate jump to abuse and inhumane treatment in this case. Depending on how violent and dangerous this person had become they may have realistically had little choice. From the little information given in the OP there wasn't any signs of outright physical abuse and the cage was neither small nor missing "amenities". When evaluating a situation like this to make it OK to both imprison the parents and to place the kids under state care we should be careful to look at the entirety of the issue. Depending on the mental stability of the person we have no better solution in our society than this. Of course, this isn't to say that we are in a great position as a society, to the contrary. But we have to scale our response in proportion to our current reality. I'm not sure the cage of a mental institution would be much better. Assuming his parents only caged him in an effort to protect themselves and their other children while affording him the best care and life they reasonably could. With the level of abuse in our mental healthcare facilities I am not sure I would want to send my kid there... I'm not sure being strapped to a bed so you can't move and flooded with drugs to zombify a person is really any more humane... But I'll let everyone go back to armchair persecution of people in a very sad situation who are trying to chart the best course they can for themselves and their children, all of them. I weep for your nation. Over here these people get homes and help at home when they're old enough, before that their parents get money to adapt their house with the extra rooms and utilities they need depending on the kids handicap/needs then they also get help with therapy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted July 3, 2014 MVC Share Posted July 3, 2014 I weep for your nation. Over here these people get homes and help at home when they're old enough, before that their parents get money to adapt their house with the extra rooms and utilities they need depending on the kids handicap/needs then they also get help with therapy. We have those options here. They work well for mentally ill persons who are not violent... They have had my family member in homes with normal levels of freedom and staff 24/7 to ensure he properly took his medicine and had proper care. He no longer has those options as he is suffering from very bad schizophrenic delusions and he has bipolar disorder as well. Leading him to attacking other patients, staff, and even police for no reason at all. Well no reason to us. To him the delusion is real and he acts on those delusions. Most people don't want to live next door to a person who will randomly think you're trying to kill them and then attempt to attack you extremely violently as they genuinely feel they are under active threat from you... While you were just trying to throw your garbage out... It also poses a basic question of exposure for other patients. Should they be in a situation where another patient may beat them up severely due to having an episode? See the problem? I'm not advocating throwing every mentally ill person into a cage and neither is the situation that led these parents to consider the option in their case... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theyarecomingforyou Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 There is no excuse for caging a child. If a child is regularly violent then they should be receiving specialist support and it would be understandable during violent outbursts to confine such a child to their room, especially if they pose a danger to others. The parents might have believed they were doing what was best but it's patently obvious to any reasonable person that locking a child in a cage is not the appropriate response. It doesn't sound like the parents acted maliciously or were abusive as such but certainly the situation needs to be monitored to ensure it doesn't happen again and the appropriate support should be provided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 My wife is a certified special ed teacher, but about 10 years ago she transitioned back to general ed due to a series of attacks by teenaged autistic kids. One nearly broke her arm and another bit her upper arm bad enough to required stitches. Clearly, "inclusion" (putting them in general ed buildings or classes) often doesn't work very well. I really feel for the parents as dealing with some autistic kids can be a nightmare, and in The US support for the parents and kids hasn't neen what it should be. This is changing, bit it has a ways to go. The States are at the forefront right now. Locally, Michigan has recently passed autism insurance legislation, created the Autism Council, adopted a Michigan Autism State Plan, and created a Medicaid benefit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perochan Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 my cousin's kid has autism and he is very unpredictable so I try to not get too close to him. it is sad that there is still no cure for this. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Cures for developmental mental disorders are not going to happen fast because often there are often structural abnormalities to go with the biochemical issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 My aunt would have been mean enuff to do this to me, if she had had a cage. :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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