WV - Donald Lantz Jeanne Whitefeather charged after adoptive children found locked in filthy barn room - October 3, 2023

Before I read anything about the race of the kids/a possible racist component, my first thought was "it sounds like they adopted kids because that was as close as they could get to owning slaves".
I wonder if hate crime charges can be filed in this case. These two need to be locked up for a LONG time.
 
From what I can tell, they sold their very rural property in February 2024
Such a rural area, I want to know how they adopted 5 black children, in a town of less than a thousand people?

What the hell? Where did those kids come from???
MOO, I have no links of proof, just a real estate listing that I won't link because I don't have proof
 
Yes this article from New York Post confirms it.
"Prosecutors also said they have evidence the couple moved from Washington after they learned they were under investigation for abuse and neglect."
What I want to know is how they got DCYF to let them adopt 5 black children, when they lived in a town with absolutely no black population. Took those kids from whatever city they were familiar with and dumped them off in the middle of nowhere -literally the middle of nowhere.

As a Washington state resident, and former foster parent to at risk teens of color, this reeks. I know DCYF like the back of my hand and this ....I know when they sent my nephew who is a black male, to a rural locked in place, it was horrific for him and he tried to run, but he was so far away from any town or city, he felt kidnapped. We thankfully got him placed with another one of my sister in laws where he has thrived for the last few years.
 
Given what I know about the foster/adoption system in the US (which admittedly isn't a lot), I wouldn't be surprised if all five kids were biological siblings. The system likes to keep siblings together whenever possible but there's not a lot of people willing to adopt five kids at once.
 
Given what I know about the foster/adoption system in the US (which admittedly isn't a lot), I wouldn't be surprised if all five kids were biological siblings. The system likes to keep siblings together whenever possible but there's not a lot of people willing to adopt five kids at once.
It is likely. I am just floored....looking at their previous towns census, they have zero population of African Americans, it is that rural.
This means those teens were removed from everything they ever knew, including the city they are from and any friends they may have made along the way, case workers, counselors, doctors, all of the safety nets, these kids had none.

I would be willing to bet they had many, many DCYF calls in Washington State that went answered before they hightailed it and sold their secluded ranch up near the border.

Ugh I hope those children are returned to Washington State and not left in WV. They may have family here or stable adults. But maybe not, these kids are at an age where they can, and many will, refuse to be adopted and run back to bios. I don't know if that is fire to frying pan but WV is not where they need to be raised. Let them come back to where they have may cousins and extended family who may not be able to take them, but still can be in their lives.
 
DailyMail.com has obtained a half dozen police reports giving more shocking details – including how two of their children ran away from home, and they allegedly forced one of them at gunpoint to stay in his room while using a bullwhip for punishment.

The family moved to Sissonville, West Virginia, 15 miles north of Charleston, the state capital. When they arrived, Lantz immediately complained that the barn was too close to the road and he was unhappy at the lack of privacy, according to one neighbor.

Donald Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Whitefeather, 62, have pleaded not guilty to charges including human trafficking and forced labor of a minor

A trial date for the couple has been set for 9 September.
 
Some things that stuck out to me from the article:
- All five kids are from Chicago and are ‘more or less a family unit'
- The children were adopted when Lantz and Whitefeather lived in Washington
- The children were mostly homeschooled
- There's prior CPS involvement which may have spurred the move from WA to WV. The one of the daughters ran away in 2022 and the oldest boy was hospitalized for mental health issues the same year and told CPS that he and his sister were being abused.
 
This is horrible. Of course they home-schooled. I have friends who home-school, but so often on WS we see home-schooling used to avoid abuse detection.

Thank goodness these children survived. This reminds me so much of the Hart family (white parents, adopted black children) who moved to avoid investigation and ultimately drove the whole family off a cliff into the ocean in California.

 


On March 28, Krivonyak said the couple sold the Sissonville home on Cheyenne Lane, where they were arrested while living with their five children, for $295,000.

Krivonyak believes the money, which remains in the custody of the Kanawha County Circuit Court Clerk's office, is owned by the couple and should be transferred into a trust for the children.

Prosecutors contend that even if the $400,000 total came from a legitimate source, based on the totality of the circumstances in the case, the money was intended to be used for human trafficking and forced labor.”
 

“The new indictment also now accuses Whitefeather of four counts of child abuse resulting in bodily injury after prosecutors said she sprayed four of the children with bear spray and bear repellant.”
 

“The new indictment also now accuses Whitefeather of four counts of child abuse resulting in bodily injury after prosecutors said she sprayed four of the children with bear spray and bear repellant.”
That article is horrifying. They were in contact with youth/group homes for runaway teens, in Chicago, and what? Promised a group of teen runaways a ew life, together, where no one could separate them?
This is so scary. I already know how bad the foster system is nation wide, but am most familiar with WA state- I can understand how our state employees could miss the family- they were so rural, I doubt an agency office is anywhere close to them, so by the time someone was authorized to travel to them, they were gone.
Jesus the state sold those kids to monsters who used, abused, and forced them into manual labor. It has been my expierence with CPS/foster care, when it comes to teens, the state is desperate to get rid of them, any way they can, as they see them as a drain on resources, and will allow pretty much anyone to adopt or assume guardianship.

As always, I share this in hopes it educates, you never know when you may be the one person a kid can count on, even if it's just lending an ear.
 

“In Mr. Lantz’s alleged act of striking a child with a PVC pipe we know about that only because there’s a picture of it on Mrs. Whitefeather’s cell phone taken from their surveillance cameras that they used in furtherance of all of their other acts to isolate and control the children," she said”

“Jury selection is set to begin Monday. Judge Akers said that they have about 255 people coming in for potential selection. The trial is expected to possibly take two weeks.”


She looks smug. I am going to be sick if they somehow do not receive serious time in prison. * My opinion.
 
What I don't understand and we see again and again in these cases - if CPS is called for a child so hungry they are eating from trash bins, how is that kid not immediately removed from the household, even temporarily?? It's such a clear sign of abuse/neglect. I've only rarely heard of that behavior in non abused kids who usually have a documented medical condition.

Instead, CPS came and ... said that was fine? Allowing the abusers to pull the kid from school so there were no more witnesses. It makes me so angry how many chances the social workers give to unfit parents.
 

“Following opening statements, the first witness called to testify was B B, a neighbor of the family in Sissonville who lived directly across the street. Bailey recorded videos of the children performing labor in the yard, which were shown to the jury. She also said she witnessed the teenagers being locked in the "shop" area.”

Good article with a lot of tragic info. *My opinion.
 
"Abusive West Virginia parents
forced adopted children into back breaking manual labor,
court hears.'

1736956272908.jpeg

 
Whitefeather’s attorney, Mark Plants, said the case “is about adoptive parents struggling to deal with their children’s past trauma and severe mental illness.” He said friends and relatives of Whitefeather will testify that four of the children suffered “physical, sexual and emotional” abuse by their biological mother, including what he said was the mother’s use of alcohol and drugs while she was pregnant.
 
Whitefeather’s attorney, Mark Plants, said the case “is about adoptive parents struggling to deal with their children’s past trauma and severe mental illness.” He said friends and relatives of Whitefeather will testify that four of the children suffered “physical, sexual and emotional” abuse by their biological mother, including what he said was the mother’s use of alcohol and drugs while she was pregnant.
as if the adoptive parents weren't horrifically abusing them as well. I fail to see how that was them "struggling to deal with their children's past trauma"

Of course they suffered at the hands of their mother, hence their removal and placement/adoption with this sick twisted couple. The friends and family members defending them know only what the awful adoptive parents told them so I don't care to hear a word those individuals say on behalf of the couple.
 
“She would tell us all the time, she wanted to go with (the youngest girl) without the rest of them, and how they are wasting time on us because we would never amount to anything,” the teenager said

Defense attorney Mark Plants cross-examined the victim, and when Plants called Whitefeather the victim’s mother, the victim replied, “Do not call her my mother. Her name is Jeanne Whitefeather. That is my request to you. She is not my mother.”
 

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