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Pennsylvania Family Accused Of Starving, Beating Foster Kids So Badly They Were Left With Severe Scarring
Police said three children had been living in unsanitary conditions since 2011 and were regularly abused.
A Pennsylvania foster family is accused of keeping three children in deplorable conditions, beating and starving them so frequently they were left with severe scarring, police said.
Brenda Parise, 60, and her daughter Amy Parise, 33, are each facing six felony counts of endangering the welfare of a child, three misdemeanor counts of simple assault and three harassment offenses stemming from the alleged abuse, according to a release from Hazleton Chief of Police Jerry Speziale obtained by Oxygen.com.
Brenda Parise’s son, 30-year-old Shawn Parise, who reportedly lived next door, is also facing three charges of simple assault and harassment.
Police said the three children in the family’s care, who were 6 years old, 3 years old and 11 months old when they came to live with the family in 2011, allegedly reported that all three family members had beaten them with their hands, belts and a paddle, according to the Times Leader.
According to police, the foster family also regularly deprived them of food, and when the adults did allow the children to eat they made them sit “with their feet crossed with one hand behind their backs,” police said.
The meals consisted primarily of bologna sandwiches and chicken, according to the Associated Press.
It's alleged that Amy Parise forced one of the children to fight another sibling and recorded the assault on video in an attempt to mislead the Luzerne County child welfare agency, the news organization reports.
The mother and daughter are also accused of giving the children higher doses of medication than prescribed.
“The lack of care and unsanitary living conditions in the home resulted in the children being malnourished, all three children developing scabies, and one child victim failing to thrive,” Speziale wrote in the release.
Mother and daughter were arraigned on their charges on Monday and are currently being held at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility on $30,000 bail.
Shawn Parise, who lived next door and allegedly beat the children when he came to the home, was also arraigned and sent to the county jail after failing to post a $10,000 bail.
It’s not clear why the children were not removed from the home sooner.
[Photo: Hazleton Police Department]
