Kids Living Unsupervised in Converted Bus

[tropaka]

I have no idea if these people were fundie or just fucked up - but parents convicted of fraud and sent to jail left their kids in the care of an aunt, who left them unsupervised in a converted bus all day while she worked (they were "homeschooled")...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.1035333

[DarkAnts]

I have no idea if these people were fundie or just fucked up - but parents convicted of fraud and sent to jail left their kids in the care of an aunt, who left them unsupervised in a converted bus all day while she worked (they were "homeschooled")...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.1035333

This story broke my heart. It makes me think that homeschooling needs more supervision. I think that visits from a caseworker a few times a year would have helped keep this situation from happening.

[mrs]

That is so sad. I hope the kids get placed with a loving caring family.

[Alecto]

My first thought was the Boxcar Children... not gonna lie.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

My first thought was the Boxcar Children... not gonna lie.

Ha! That was my first thought too, before even clicking in here.

[Eclipse]

Ha! That was my first thought too, before even clicking in here.

Mine too but that picture was much more depressing and sad than my mental image of the Boxcar Children.

[shesinsane]

I think the aunt confused homeschooling with independant study. Or maybe one kids was designated the teacher?

At least they had air conditioning.

[ladypuglover]

Mine too but that picture was much more depressing and sad than my mental image of the Boxcar Children.

I went there too and had the same depressing thought too. :(

[Austin]

My first thought was Andrea Yates. . .

[NurseNell]

My first thought was the Boxcar Children... not gonna lie.

Me too! I loved those books and I so wanted to find an old boxcar to fix up.

What I don't get is this situation has been going on since 2009. Neighbors have provided food to the kids but until a mail deliverer reported it this week no one had ever reported the situation. Maybe the neighbors are all living off the grid too.

[luckylibrarian]

Me too! I loved those books and I so wanted to find an old boxcar to fix up.

What I don't get is this situation has been going on since 2009. Neighbors have provided food to the kids but until a mail deliverer reported it this week no one had ever reported the situation. Maybe the neighbors are all living off the grid too.

I don't get it either. People obviously knew. Why didn't they report it?

[ohpotteryourotter]

I've known of TEENAGERS living in converted buses in their parents' yards (non-fundy hippies who turned into wonderful adults) but 5 and 11? Wayyyy too young. Did they expect the 11-year-old to watch the 5-year-old? I guess that's typical in a fundy family though.

[lilwriter85]

My first thought was Andrea Yates. . .

Me too.

[shesinsane]

I have no idea if these people were fundie or just fucked up - but parents convicted of fraud and sent to jail left their kids in the care of an aunt, who left them unsupervised in a converted bus all day while she worked (they were "homeschooled")...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.1035333

If they are fundies, it's kind of amusing that the parents are in jail for defrauding hurricane victims.

[Witsec7]

I've known of TEENAGERS living in converted buses in their parents' yards (non-fundy hippies who turned into wonderful adults) but 5 and 11? Wayyyy too young. Did they expect the 11-year-old to watch the 5-year-old? I guess that's typical in a fundy family though.

Here in the PNW we hippys with a modicum of dirt usual have one inhabited school bus conversion on the property. My DDs best friend was born in her parents bus, when the house was finished they all moved in, but prior to the house being finished they had a wash shed with hot and cold showers, washer and dryer and flush toilet. When my DDs pal was about 12 she wanted more space and independence. Her folks rolled the bus up to the wash shed, built a lovely covered walkway to the house (12 ft) and one to the wash shed. (The handmade house had two full baths and a laundry). Today it is an art studio for the Mom.

The problem with a lot of states and homeschooling is that there is no oversight and contact with the kids, no one to check to see if the kids were being abused (like the Christines here in Boregonia), out of sight and out of mind.

[Bella99]

Texas is like this. Homeschooled kids should have to show up at their zoned school for a progress meeting at least 2x a year. It would be extremely unpopular, but right now there is zero oversight for homeschooled children.

[Guest Anonymous]

This is so sad. Hopefully the kids will be placed in loving homes and seek counseling/therapy/medical crare.

[ElphabaGalinda]

This is sad. Especially since people obviously knew about it and did nothing to help. This is why homeschooling at least needs some regulation, so that someone will know who is more likely to do something.

[Third]

My first thought was the Boxcar Children... not gonna lie.

I was thinking Benny and his pink cup. :mrgreen:

I know a woman who "homeschooled" her DD and from 14 on she worked full time in her mother's home daycare. Then surprise at 16 she got pregnant by a 27 year old man and they signed the papers so she could marry him. Now she's a single mom of 3 kids.

I come from the boonies and I have cousins who moved into converted shipping containers in their parents yard but 5 & 11 is TOO young to be left alone.

Honestly the schoolbus thing reminds me of those Y2K bunkers.

[nomi]

OMG that news site that hosts the story is absolutely horrible! I spent the past two hours reading one horror story after another about child abuse and child death. It was so so awful! That's some macabre media right there.

[Kailis]

OMG that news site that hosts the story is absolutely horrible! I spent the past two hours reading one horror story after another about child abuse and child death. It was so so awful! That's some macabre media right there.

I'm not the only one?! I'm so relieved. It just sucks you without you even realizing. :?

[NurseNell]

The neighbors knowing and doing nothing makes you wonder what's going on in the neighborhood. Maybe they'd rather help feed the kids than to have CPS coming in and asking questions.

[SisiL78]

So many people, unfortunately, feel its "not their place" to report neglect. But, there are also so many cases of children in neglectful cases being reported to CDS and being put into a more neglectful and abusive foster care system.

I can see there being some level of inner turmoil concerning trying to help children in this situation.

The answer really is that more decent people become foster parents, or a system like the Children's Village system in Israel (like the one in a place called Karmiel Misgav that I visited many years ago and wondered why there can't be a system like this in the US).

[Rosa]

Or some sort of help for working parents.

If it's a poor area, probably most parents leave kids home unsupervised, because they don't have enough better choices. I know we've had neighbors leave little kids home with 12 and 13 year olds all day in the summer, and instead of reporting them we helped them out occasionally, like inviting them over for lunch or redirecting little kids into the back yard so they're not by the street. What else are people going to do, if all the adults work (especially if it's construction or agriculture stuff, that's long days when it's in season) but there's no extra money anyway?

[Someonetocall]

That is not a "converted" bus, based on that picture. That is a bus, on blocks, with the front end cut off.

As an external observer of the USA, I am having a hard time finding this story shocking. It is getting, for me, to the point with the US that it is with Africa. The media reports coming out, that I see, are of a place I don't feel safe going and I wonder how people can survive there. I know this is far from the truth both with the US and with Africa (which I do know is a continent, not a country) but the stories one hears are worrying.