Archived Issue
Originally emailed 4 March 2007
Adoptive Parents Guided by Attachment Therapy
Are Sentenced to Two Years in Prison
Their Eleven Children Feel Liberated!
Sharen and Michael Gravelle, an Ohio couple who kept 10 of their 11 adoptive children in cramped cages, were sentenced to six months to two years for child abuse. For five years, several of the children had been treated with “Holding Therapy and Neurofeedback” by Attachment Therapist Elaine Thompson. The parents claim Thompson recommended Attachment Therapy Parenting (ATP), which included constructing cages equipped with shrill alarms. Thompson has pled guilty to misdemeanor charges of failure to report the abuse.
Thompson was paid over $100,000 from the state for treating the Gravelle children. The parents had been collecting between $48,000 and $99,000 a year in adoption subsidies. The State of Ohio is considered to be the most generous and accepting of Attachment Therapy of all states.
This sensational case exposed a national audience to many of the abuses that AT News readers may recognize. The oldest child wrote the trial judge lamenting the years of ATP: “I spent the most important years of my life being commanded like a dog, being told when to eat, when to sleep, when to go to the bathroom, when to get a drink of water, when to work, etc.” One of her brothers told the judge what a relief it was to be through with ATP: “I don’t have to steal food. I can use the bathroom whenever I want. Never again will I have to sleep in a box.”
For the full story go to Gravelle Siblings Victim Page.
Caution: links may have aged since this AT News was first emailed.