Neighbors of Ruby Franke, the woman behind the 8 Passengers family YouTube channel who was arrested this week on child abuse charges, said several people in the close-knit community were concerned when police officers arrived at Franke’s home in Springville, Utah on Wednesday.
Franke was sometimes criticized on social media for how she treated her children in YouTube videos. The two neighbors, who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity citing concerns for their safety, said that they and others who lived near the family had long been worried for the safety of the children, and that neighbors in the community had previously alerted the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.
I’ve edited this comment. I originally accused the neighbors of trying to save face. It’s stupidly difficult to get CPS and the police to do their jobs and help people, so I can get the frustration of the people involved. I still feel that there were many opportunities for the neighbors to step up and help these kids, but there’s only so far you can go before you have to start breaking laws.
It sucks for everyone involved in this story.
I’ve seen exactly how CPS can fail so I understand your editing.
My sister taught at a pre-k after school thing for a few years. They eventually got a 6 year old girl in her class. The girl began to talk about things her dad would do and stuff that no 6 year old should ever know. I won’t go into detail but it was enough for my sister and any other adult to be sickened and horrified. She would also start acting sexual to any male adult at the school that she got to know.
My sister called CPS and told them they HAD to bring a lady over as the 6 year old locks down around male adults.
The fucking CPS brought a guy over and of course the little girl refused to talk. The dad found out when he picked her up that day and then vanished with their kid. Nobody heard from them again.
That was around 12 years ago so that child is now an adult and I still think about how her last 12 years could have been different if CPS did that one small thing.
CPS is a joke when you actually need them.
I’m gonna be the one person to defend CPS in this thread: They’re not some band of worthless fuck-offs. Their job is extremely hard. Your sister saw one case of abuse and was mortified: Try working in a job where you see it every fucking day with countless, countless children. Imagine what that does to you over time. Imagine how fucking horrible it feels when you have laws and processes you have to follow or you yourself will end up in jail and/or the abuser of that child gets away scot-free and become untouchable because you broke protocol. Blame the system, yes, but try not to blame the people trying to help kids as best they can (edit: I will caveat that there are always exceptions to this as with anything). But most of all, blame the fucking monsters doing these things to children in the first place.
/Rant.
I just read the story and yikes those poor kids. I agree, many red flags.
What was the YouTube channel about? There’s not a lot of information in the article about it.
In one video, posted in June 2020, Franke’s then-15-year-old son said he’d slept on a beanbag chair for seven months after being banned from his shared bedroom for pranking his younger brother into believing he was being taken to Disneyland.
In another video, Franke says she refused to bring food to her then-6-year-old after the child had forgotten her lunch at home. She defended that move, too, saying it was necessary to teach her daughter personal responsibility and that she was fed immediately upon returning home.
There are also videos of Franke threatening to cut the head off her child’s teddy bear, taking away the children’s Christmas presents and sending her oldest boy to a behavioral camp where youth spend a minimum of 49 days in the wilderness with little gear.
Police said Franke’s malnourished son escaped out a window with his arms and legs covered in duct tape, fleeing to a neighbor’s house seeking food and water.
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/01/1197289217/ruby-franke-utah-youtube-child-abuse
Just awful. Awful. I wish I hadn’t looked it up.
Wtf that’s the stuff they talked about in her YouTube videos? How did it take her so long to get investigated.
