Autistic boy locked away for seven years by his parents

[Guest guest]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5858983.ece

From Times Online

March 6, 2009

Outrage in France over plight of boy locked away for seven years by his parents

French authorities are seeking to contain public outrage over their failure to

protect a young boy who was locked up in a cell-like bedroom for seven years by

his abusive parents.

Detectives in Millau, central France, discovered Dylan, a skinny, naked,

seven-year-old, huddled in the dark on a urine-soaked mattress on Tuesday. He

had never been to school, never seen a doctor and never been allowed to play

with other children.

The boy was shut in his bedroom every evening when his father came home from

work. The door was locked from the outside and the claret-coloured shutters were

padlocked.

The light switch was outside the bedroom and it was kept off. If Dylan wanted to

go the toilet – which was kept locked – he was forbidden. The only furnishings

in his room were a bed covered in a two blankets but no sheet, a desk without

drawers and a Pikachu doll.

" A prison cell would have been more comfortable, " said Desjardins, state

prosecutor in Millau. " The deprivation of this little boy had reached an

extremely rare and serious stage. "

Commander Delchambre, police chief in Millau, told The Times that Dylan was

regularly beaten by his father. " They weren't smacks with the palm of the hand

on the bottom. They were punches to the body. "

The case has given rise to fierce debate over the efficiency of social services

and judicial officers following what the Government's critics say are budget

cutbacks.

It also raised questions over neighbourhood relations in a small town where

nobody seems to have realised – or revealed – Dylan's plight.

" He was locked in his bedroom at night for years, but things really got worse

with the birth of the family's second son in 2007. In the daytime when the

father was at work, the boy was allowed out of his bedroom and allowed to do

whatever he wanted in the house, " said Commander Delchambre.

" He got completely out of hand and the father responded by becoming violent with

him. "

There were calls for an inquiry after it emerged that officials were first

warned in 2007 when a midwife visited the house to check on Dylan's baby

brother.

She thought Dylan looked ill and under-nourished and alerted social workers.

They, too, visited the house but noted nothing requiring urgent action – not

even the smell which police say can be detected from the porch.

It was only several months later, when the family failed to attend a meeting

convened by Millau social services, that they launched a judicial procedure. A

judge wrote to the parents in September 2008, but got no reply. This week, he

sent in the police.

Both parents – his 42-year-old father, a builder, and his 35-year-old wife –

have been remanded in custody after being placed under formal investigation on

suspicion of moral and material abandonment of a minor and depriving a minor of

care.

The father has been accused of " repeated physical abuse " and faces a maximum of

15 years in prison. The mother is alleged to have failed to intervene to stop

the beatings and faces up to seven years imprisonment.

Their story appears to have varied. The pair told Dylan's grandmother, for

example, that he had been refused by local schools because of learning

difficulties.

When a neighbour asked about him, they had said he was autistic and was

receiving treatment at home. " They did everything they could to create the

thickest smokescreen possible around him, " said Mr Desjardins.

Dylan and his brother, who does not appear to have been maltreated, have been

placed in a foster family.

" When we found Dylan, he seemed relieved, " said Commander Delchambre. " He simply

said: 'He won't hit me this evening. "

[Guest guest]

Should every household with kids have state inspections of bedrooms doen

regularly? If so, how do we prevent them being fantical aboyut tidiness?

How else was anyone supposed to know what the state of this bedroom was?

Neighbours would never notice this in any normal type of community where folks

live in their own households. You would need a commune, and most folks are too

socially cold towards each other to be willing to live in communes, however much

of the world's arable land it means has to be lost to house build at a time when

climate change may make that matter more.

> There were calls for an inquiry after it emerged that officials were first

warned in 2007 when a midwife visited the house to check on Dylan's baby

brother.

>

Yes this is where it should have begun.