PA - couple hid 5 children from society

Missizzy

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I'm afraid there will be much gnashing of teeth over this case. Who determines lifestyle choices and where is the line on safety? Many correlations with the Followers of Christ in Oregon and the man who lost his children to foster care due to poor choices in traveling and homelessness. I am hopeful that every attempt will be made at reunification if this is just an issue of education or abject fear on the mother's part. "Unanswered questions" is right. I'll be watching.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101128...DeW5fbW9zdF9wb3B1bGFyBHNsawNwb2xpY2VwYWNvdXA-

Police: Pa. couple hid 5 children from society

York, Pa.~"They lived outside society, hidden from the world in a squalid row house with no heat, electricity or running water. They had no birth certificates, no schooling, no immunizations or evidence of medical care — nothing whatsoever to prove their existence.

Police in this south-central Pennsylvania city are still piecing together how the parents of five children — ranging in age from 2 to 13 — managed to conceal them for so many years. And why...."

and

"[Detective] Ward charged Louann Bowers, 33, and Sinhue Johnson, 45, with five felony counts of child endangerment...."

and

"Years of isolation have taken their toll on the siblings. Now living in foster homes, "some of the children suffer health and vision issues," Ward wrote in an affidavit. "None of the children are at their expected education levels, and there are possible mental health issues....."

more at link
 
http://www.pennsylvaniamissing.com/bowerslouann.html

reported missing in 1993

and from the Charley Project

http://charleyross.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/more-louann-bowers-stuff/

It seems that Louann Bowers (whom I wrote about earlier) was declared legally dead in 2004s , eleven years after her 1993 disappearance. Yet the woman is alive (if not well), and if she overturns her death decree she could claim some inheritance from her dead grandmother that was distributed among her family in 2008. (Her share comes to over $100,000.) I’ve always wondered what happens if a person is declared dead and later turn up alive and kicking.
 
If she ran away to get married to Sinhue Johnson at the time of her disappearance she would have been 16 and him 28 yrs old.
 
messed up. That's all I've got.

That and the quote from the mothers attorney that "She understands she had some shortcomings as a parent, but her love and desire to have the children and wanting to be there for her children has not changed,"

boy that is like saying that the Titanic was sunk by an ice cube IMO
 
I am absolutely dumbfounded that something like this took place in this day and age.
I wonder who else is hiding in abandoned buildings.
 
I wonder if him messing around with a 16 yr old is why they hid out all that time?

And it appears they were living in the same state she disappeared from and no one ever knew?
 
I get the hiding out thing back when she was a minor, if they ran off together, forbidden love etc. But how exactly does that theory explain them all being in hiding now? All these years later, long past when she reached the age of maturity legally and could do, be with, live wherever she wanted?
 
So the mothers 33, oldest child 13, she disappeared at 16, but no children born prior to age 19. Theres something they are hiding.
 
There are many and I do mean many radical so called christians in this country. Everything they do, they profess to do because they love the Lord Jesus Christ. Many crimes against women and children are hidden under the guise of Christianity. I know this because I have lived it. Many young teenagers are taken as "brides" by these so called christians and made to be brood sows and are treated as sex slaves and treated as cattle. America needs to tend to their own backyards and take these young teens away from these fanatics and give them a normal life. There is no difference in what this teen is forced to go through than what a kidnapped young girl who is forced to sex and having child after child is forced to do. God is always used as an excuse of why these "religious" men force young women into sex slavery and the resulting children's lives are sacrificed and are held in virtual slavery.
 
I am almost wondering if there is a mental challenge or a mental illness involved here? Two emeshed psychosis maybe? Who exactly were they hiding from? What did they think was the horrible thing was that would happen if people knew about them or their children?

This one is just so odd it worries me that there may be a lot more to this story once all is said and done. These poor kids, being raised to fear being seen?
 
York County Children and Youth became aware of the family through anonymous tips in 2003 and again in 2007, but police said Johnson refused to cooperate with caseworkers.

The agency got another anonymous referral in 2009, this time from someone claiming to be a family member who had seen the children. The agency contacted Johnson again, but he remained uncooperative, court documents state.

That led caseworkers to obtain a court order granting them permission to enter the dilapidated house on South Duke Street. By the time they arrived, the family had fled.



in 2003, the oldest would've been six

so much pain & suffering could've been avoided if they were arrested then or in 2007 or even in 2009

now that it's 2010, I guess the 4th time's the charm but those children's futures are tainted if not ruined - I hope it's not too late for them ...
 
How sad and horrible that is took so long for these children to recieve help.
 
This probably sounds small in comparison with the big picture, but I feel really sorry for the kids having to start school so late and with such a weird upbringing. I hope they make friends and integrate well.
 
And the family was hiding out in a hotel? I wonder what type of hotel? The family home is described as dilapidated. How could they afford to flee to a hotel?

Just as I said in my first post, this will be a hot ticket as most folks naturally want to impose their approved level of safety, hygiene, medical care, vaccinations, and schooling on all children. Knowing the mission of DHS, that's not the way it works. They are merely assigned to assure that the minimum level of these issues are met.

I happen to live in the town with the fewest (per capita) vaccinated children in the US. Try to tell an Ashlander that they are required to vaccinate their child. I realize that in PA, children are supposed to be registered for home school but that's not the case in every state. When the state goes in, they are looking for clean water, some food in the fridge, toilets that flush, and the barest minimum of safety. There are so many lifestyles and cultural vagaries that these cases become a morass.

Please understand that I do NOT approve of the way these children have been raised. I just am trying to take a wait and see attitude. I agree that mental illness most likely plays a part in this story as there is some great, yet unspoken, fear on the mother's part.

My heart goes out to the children and truly hope that they can be kept together as much as possible. Studies have shown that children from dysfunctional families gain their strength by their sibling bonds. We have to remember that these children will be aching for their parents tonight, no matter how lacking they have been. That man and that woman seem to be all they've ever known.
 
I cant judge for homebirth, even unattended, I cant judge for homeschool, I cant judge not vaccinating... the filth I can judge, the uneducation...because unless the reports so far are somewhat exaggerated, the kids were NOT educated and not given any medical care which is not okay.

besides that, my heavens, what did they DO all day every day? no electricity so no tv, no internet, apparently no education either so that implies the cluttered rooms werent full of books. 5 kids and 2 adults crammed into one room with a kerosene heater? doing what, exactly?
 
Police: Couple hid five children from society
http://www.thetelegraph.com/articles/children-47679-family-johnson.html

They lived outside society, hidden from the world in a squalid row house with no heat, electricity or running water. They had no birth certificates, no schooling, no immunizations or evidence of medical care - nothing whatsoever to prove their existence.

Also this got me:York County Children and Youth Services became aware of the family through anonymous tips in 2003 and again in 2007, but police said Johnson refused to cooperate with caseworkers
 
I also wonder what they could possibly have been doing all that time, with no outside contact.

I also wonder if there is any hope for the children. A good deal of a person's value system comes from society, but here we are bound to have a group of kids that does not give one hoot about the mores of a society that they did not grow up in.

Sad all the way around.
 
Sounds like we may be looking at another "feral" case... :( but I hope not... that kind of struggle is one that is of the extreme. :(

(yes, there are feral children... and it is one long, hard struggle for such children and their caregivers. Google "The Girl in the Window"... Dani's story will break your heart. She was so disconnected from the world due to severe neglect and being kept hidden from society, that she couldn't do basic things like hold a crayon in her hand.)
 

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