Turpins on 20/20

[Wishes]

Has anyone watched this yet? I haven’t been able to see it yet since I have to wait for Hulu but my mom told me a little bit about it. It seems it sounds like the older kids might be more or less on their own now. Makes me think about some of the discussions that are being done about young adults and how to support them. More than a go fund me for anything these young people need someone to step in and help them learn to navigate all the avenues of being an adult.

[Scarlett]

1 hour ago, Wishes said:

Has anyone watched this yet? I haven’t been able to see it yet since I have to wait for Hulu but my mom told me a little bit about it. It seems it sounds like the older kids might be more or less on their own now. Makes me think about some of the discussions that are being done about young adults and how to support them. More than a go fund me for anything these young people need someone to step in and help them learn to navigate all the avenues of being an adult.

I watched it. Must of it. Multiple agencies have failed these kids and mismanaged the money that was raised for them. 
 

[stephanier.1765]

1 hour ago, Wishes said:

Has anyone watched this yet? I haven’t been able to see it yet since I have to wait for Hulu but my mom told me a little bit about it. It seems it sounds like the older kids might be more or less on their own now. Makes me think about some of the discussions that are being done about young adults and how to support them. More than a go fund me for anything these young people need someone to step in and help them learn to navigate all the avenues of being an adult.

It's on Hulu now. I just finished it and ,yes, they have been failed on many levels. The eldest son asked to access the funds that were raised for them so he could get a bike. He needed the bike for basic transportation and he was refused. They live in bad neighborhoods without even the basic skills to navigate dangerous places. And it seems the youngest aren't better off. If I remember the details correctly, 4 of them lived with an abuser for 3 years. These poor children/adults can't seem to catch a break. According to the two that did the interview, they don't want to be thought of as victims. They want to be remembered as strong.

[Indigo Blue]

I hope the exposure via the airing of the interview will effect change for them.

[*****]

 

I missed the beginning, but saw the rest.  Just an unbelievable story, so sad. The oldest is 29, can you imagine living for that long under such conditions?  Her sister was incredibly brave and smart to have brought proof in pictures on her phone. For not knowing her address or their street name, or even what medication or pills were, I thought she did a great job knowing what to tell the officer. 

https://abc7ny.com/bill-ritter-diane-sawyer-jordan-turpin-story-house-of-horrors/11254064/

 

I really am surprised about the neighbors; houses were very close. I mean, don’t people know what is going on around them or even care? To me it is so bizarre no one picked up on the strangeness of the home and kept a better eye on it.  

And the expressions on the parents’ faces when the police officer was questioning them at the door-busted!  You could see the wheels turning in the mom’s head, trying to figure out who turned them in…she was grappling.

But the real kicker here is the ending. Riverside and the state of California has failed the kids…unbelievable😔  

https://abcnews.go.com/US/years-rescue-turpin-children-living-squalor-donations-pledges/story?id=81254457

[Guest]

Watching this makes me wish I could be their guardian. I would happily teach them everything, *everything*! about how to live, how to navigate the world…everything. 
 

It’s actually a good thing I don’t have Hulu because this case has always just broken my heart so badly. 
 

Those two young ladies are so beautiful and so brave. I wish I could be their guardians and teach them everything. 

[sassenach]

After that case, their state rep put all this energy into trying to pass meaningless homeschool reform. It’s ironic to me that he put all that effort into going after homeschoolers and all the while the county was failing to take care of the victims. 

[fairfarmhand]

2 hours ago, Quill said:

Watching this makes me wish I could be their guardian. I would happily teach them everything, *everything*! about how to live, how to navigate the world…everything. 
 

It’s actually a good thing I don’t have Hulu because this case has always just broken my heart so badly. 
 

Those two young ladies are so beautiful and so brave. I wish I could be their guardians and teach them everything. 

I had the same thoughts.

This reminds me of how little support young adults coming out of foster care have. Much less these people who were technically adults, but in reality, need SO much support. Both of them have mannerisms and ways that make them seem much younger than their chronological age, though I am sure what they went through gave them wells of strength and other kinds of maturity. I hope they can take their time "growing up" And...

I hate commenting on the bodies of others. But, they just seem so very thin. I would venture to say that eating will be an issue for a long time. And I am sure their bodies likely have permanent health problems from what they endured.

I'm glad they are doing well. But such as sad, horrific thing to have had to go through.

[Harriet Vane]

As a foster parent, I will just say I am not surprised one iota in how the system has failed and continues to fail these children. God bless those brave girls for going on camera--there is literally almost nothing anyone can do within the social services power structure. Shining a light on this is the only possible option. 

[DawnM]

8 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said:

As a foster parent, I will just say I am not surprised one iota in how the system has failed and continues to fail these children. God bless those brave girls for going on camera--there is literally almost nothing anyone can do within the social services power structure. Shining a light on this is the only possible option. 

I have a foster child from out of state.   The out of state county folks have told me over and over how thankful they are for us as they have children who have no where to go and are in horrible conditions.

My own county had a social worker who worked for the DSS Foster system who fostered and abused a child.

It is very bad out there.   

[DawnM]

3 hours ago, Quill said:

Watching this makes me wish I could be their guardian. I would happily teach them everything, *everything*! about how to live, how to navigate the world…everything. 
 

It’s actually a good thing I don’t have Hulu because this case has always just broken my heart so badly. 
 

Those two young ladies are so beautiful and so brave. I wish I could be their guardians and teach them everything. 

You may not be able to be their guardian, but you could be a guardian to someone like them.

[Frances]

I watched parts of it. Am I understanding correctly that the guardian was a paid position? She was an employee of the county or state? Or was it more like the for-profit guardians that are sometimes appointed for the elderly and then take significant amounts of their assets while making their lives worse?

Edited November 21, 2021 by Frances

[*****]

1 hour ago, Frances said:

Am I understanding correctly that the guardian was a paid position?

 I am not sure on that, but the guardian, Vanessa Espinoza, has not appeared to be they type of guardian I envisioned the kids would have. I personally thought it would have been more of a team (to help with food issues, language, schooling, emotional...) as there were so many needs. I heard in the original 2020 special, the kids were so hungry 1 of them ate grass and leaves at 1 time. There was food in the refrigerator and cupboards, but it was only for the parents, they fed the kids very little. They are just sick people:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/years-rescue-turpin-children-living-squalor-donations-pledges/story?id=81254457

As the deputy public guardian assigned to the seven adult Turpins' cases, Espinoza was responsible for helping the older children secure housing, health care, food support and education, and for aiding them as they learned to navigate the whole array of public benefits systems adults deal with everyday.

Joshua Turpin said that when he would seek Espinoza's assistance, "she would just tell me, 'Just go Google it.'"

"She wasn't helpful at all," he said.

ABC News learned from state records that Espinoza, while working full-time for the county, was also a real estate broker on the side.

...

2 hours ago, DawnM said:

My own county had a social worker who worked for the DSS Foster system who fostered and abused a child.

It is very bad out there.   

Yes, it even happened to 1 or more of the younger Turpins.  (I am thinking now, what was it like for them during covid, with again, lockdown restrictions for awhile)?   

The article above continued: 

One foster family now faces criminal charges in connection with their alleged mistreatment of several of their foster children, including one of the Turpin minors.

Five Turpin children remained in that home for three years while the alleged abuse took place. A lawyer for one of those family members said, "The family are devastated by these charges. At this point, we do not know the basis for these charges, and my client is denying these charges are true."

 

 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, DawnM said:

You may not be able to be their guardian, but you could be a guardian to someone like them.

Yeah. I wanted to, for several years; I wanted to foster/adopt. But I can’t. 

[DawnM]

13 hours ago, ***** said:

 I am not sure on that, but the guardian, Vanessa Espinoza, has not appeared to be they type of guardian I envisioned the kids would have. I personally thought it would have been more of a team (to help with food issues, language, schooling, emotional...) as there were so many needs. I heard in the original 2020 special, the kids were so hungry 1 of them ate grass and leaves at 1 time. There was food in the refrigerator and cupboards, but it was only for the parents, they fed the kids very little. They are just sick people:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/years-rescue-turpin-children-living-squalor-donations-pledges/story?id=81254457

As the deputy public guardian assigned to the seven adult Turpins' cases, Espinoza was responsible for helping the older children secure housing, health care, food support and education, and for aiding them as they learned to navigate the whole array of public benefits systems adults deal with everyday.

Joshua Turpin said that when he would seek Espinoza's assistance, "she would just tell me, 'Just go Google it.'"

"She wasn't helpful at all," he said.

ABC News learned from state records that Espinoza, while working full-time for the county, was also a real estate broker on the side.

...

Yes, it even happened to 1 or more of the younger Turpins.  (I am thinking now, what was it like for them during covid, with again, lockdown restrictions for awhile)?   

The article above continued: 

One foster family now faces criminal charges in connection with their alleged mistreatment of several of their foster children, including one of the Turpin minors.

Five Turpin children remained in that home for three years while the alleged abuse took place. A lawyer for one of those family members said, "The family are devastated by these charges. At this point, we do not know the basis for these charges, and my client is denying these charges are true."

 

 

Yeah, I saw that.   It is horrific.

[Jaybee]

10 hours ago, Quill said:

Yeah. I wanted to, for several years; I wanted to foster/adopt. But I can’t. 

I'm applying for the CASA program. You might be interested in that as well.

[Guest]

I don’t know if anyone knows true answer to this, but how did Jordan/some of the kids come to understand they were being abused, this is illegal/there are systems in place to help, calling 911 was the thing to do? 
 

In Tara Westover’s memoir, she does not really realize the abuse and medical and educational neglect their family was suffering until she was grown. 

[fairfarmhand]

4 minutes ago, Quill said:

I don’t know if anyone knows true answer to this, but how did Jordan/some of the kids come to understand they were being abused, this is illegal/there are systems in place to help, calling 911 was the thing to do? 
 

In Tara Westover’s memoir, she does not really realize the abuse and medical and educational neglect their family was suffering until she was grown. 

She slightly mentioned this on the interview.

She started watching Disney channel television and saw things like Children confiding in parents and parents nurturing their kids. 

Apparently a few of the older kids had a smart phone or two and the younger kids would sneak and use them to watch television and do some social media stuff. But they couldn't get caught.

Edited November 22, 2021 by fairfarmhand

[Paige]

7 minutes ago, Quill said:

I don’t know if anyone knows true answer to this, but how did Jordan/some of the kids come to understand they were being abused, this is illegal/there are systems in place to help, calling 911 was the thing to do? 
. 

I read another article that said she found a phone with wifi and started watching Bieber videos and then making her own videos. Someone commented on of her videos asking about some odd things he noticed and she told him about her family life. He encouraged her to call police. 

[*****]

I also believe she said they were watching crime solving shows, so this must have been where they learned about  needing 'evidence'. That was good thinking on her part, instead of just calling in and telling what was going on. When the police asked her if she was on medication, that would be the first thing to suspect for sure, I suppose. With so little language ability, she could have sounded like she was on drugs. And  being high on something could have happened by any person.

 I hope the police/sheriff use that footage in their training, you just never know what goes on in families. The 1 thing that did bother me though was that I am not sure if a 2nd car had reached the scene when they went in, as reinforcements. There were so many 'what if's' that could have happened. What if 1 of the parents tried to run, or if they would have seen Jordan, what would they have done?  What was going through Jordan's mind and was she left alone? I felt the anxiety she must have been under.  And what if they hadn't checked that last room, they would not have found the kids who were chained up. 

[Corraleno]

On 11/21/2021 at 3:28 PM, ***** said:

One foster family now faces criminal charges in connection with their alleged mistreatment of several of their foster children, including one of the Turpin minors.

Five Turpin children remained in that home for three years while the alleged abuse took place. A lawyer for one of those family members said, "The family are devastated by these charges. At this point, we do not know the basis for these charges, and my client is denying these charges are true."

Just to follow up on this, the family who fostered the 6 youngest Turpin children have finally been sentenced for the horrific abuse they inflicted on those poor kids. The children claim the foster parents hit them in the face with sandals, pulled their hair, beat them with belts, withheld food, forced them to eat their own vomit, and the father sexually abused the girls — so basically more of the same abuse they'd been "rescued" from, but with added sexual abuse.  

All three adults took plea deals and the father only got 7 years in prison for multiple charges of lewd conduct with a child under 14, willful cruelty, inflicting injury on a child, and false imprisonment, and the mother and adult daughter just got probation for charges of child cruelty and false imprisonment.  Which is @#$%ing ridiculous, considering the incredible damage they did to vulnerable children who'd already experienced so much abuse in their short lives.

Lawyers for the Turpin children are expected to hold a press conference on Monday to discuss the civil lawsuit they filed against Riverside County and the private foster care agency that placed the children in a family with a known history of physical violence and neglect.

 

 

[Scarlett]

4 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

Just to follow up on this, the family who fostered the 6 youngest Turpin children have finally been sentenced for the horrific abuse they inflicted on those poor kids. The children claim the foster parents hit them in the face with sandals, pulled their hair, beat them with belts, withheld food, forced them to eat their own vomit, and the father sexually abused the girls — so basically more of the same abuse they'd been "rescued" from, but with added sexual abuse.  

All three adults took plea deals and the father only got 7 years in prison for multiple charges of lewd conduct with a child under 14, willful cruelty, inflicting injury on a child, and false imprisonment, and the mother and adult daughter just got probation for charges of child cruelty and false imprisonment.  Which is @#$%ing ridiculous, considering the incredible damage they did to vulnerable children who'd already experienced so much abuse in their short lives.

Lawyers for the Turpin children are expected to hold a press conference on Monday to discuss the civil lawsuit they filed against Riverside County and the private foster care agency that placed the children in a family with a known history of physical violence and neglect.

 

 

This is crazy! You would think high profile foster kids would get good foster parents. 

[scholastica]

And it makes you wonder how many other vulnerable foster kids were abused by this couple. 

[TravelingChris]

LA County is equally bad.  A long time ago, dh and I were foster parents in LA County.  We went to the training and it seemed that we were one of the very few people in the training who were actually going to foster because we wanted to help a child.  Questions kept being asked about money, basically how to game the system.  Our foster child was placed in our home from another placement.  She came with one set of oversized clothes.  WHen you get a child, you get money for clothing,etc and then your monthly allowance.  She was sleeping in the sunroom on a coach and the clothes were obviously not hers.  We bought her clothes and sent her to a private school.  We didn't have her that long---they wanted us to start driving her to the prison to visit her abusive mom and this would have been a 2 hour trip each way.  I had found out that I was pregnant after we had her and also we found out that we would be moving out of state in a few months too.  That was our only experience but I also watched a documentary about a case in LA County and the system still seems to be broken.