Couple Indicted in Starvation of 4 Sons

A New Jersey couple accused of starving their four adopted sons were indicted by a grand jury Wednesday in a case that spurred reform of the state’s troubled child welfare system.

Raymond and Vanessa Jackson each were indicted on 28 counts of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of the children.

The case came to light last year when the couple’s 19-year-old son, Bruce, was found sifting through a neighbor’s garbage for food at 2:30 a.m.

He was 4 feet tall, weighed 45 pounds and appeared to be about 10 years old.

When authorities entered the Jacksons’ Collingswood, N.J., home, they discovered three other emaciated boys -- a 14-year-old who weighed 40 pounds, a 10-year-old who weighed 28 pounds and a 9-year-old who weighed 23 pounds.

Three girls living in the home -- two adopted and one foster child -- were normal size.

Raymond Jackson, 50, and his 48-year-old wife were arrested in October and each released on a $100,000 bond.

They have not been allowed to have any contact with their children.

Prosecutors have said the boys were locked out of the Jackson family kitchen and fed a skimpy diet of uncooked pancake batter, cereal and peanut butter; in desperation, they sometimes ate wallboard, officials said.

The Jacksons told authorities that their sons had eating disorders that predated their adoptions.

Wednesday’s indictment also charged that the Jacksons had failed to provide adequate medical and dental care and had inflicted unnecessary pain and suffering on each of the boys.

It described an improper emotional and physical environment in which the children lived for a time without electricity or gas in the home.

The discovery of the emaciated youngsters underlined what critics previously had charged was a deeply flawed child welfare system, with inadequate staff and financial resources.

The dimensions of the state’s problem became evident in January 2003 after a 7-year-old boy was found dead in the basement of an apartment in Newark. Officials said social workers had prematurely closed the case of the youngster, who was suspected of being a victim of child abuse.

As part of a reform package in the wake of the Jackson case, New Jersey’s Division of Youth and Family Services has been placed under the direction of a panel of child welfare experts. Plans exist to hire 158 new staffers, but critics stress that the number is inadequate and that serious budget problems still exist.

In a report issued in February, Kevin M. Ryan, New Jersey’s independent child advocate, said caseworkers had visited the Jackson house 38 times over the years and reported that the boys were safe.

Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said state social workers were not required to monitor the condition of the boys after their adoptions were final.

Officials said Wednesday that since being taken from the Jacksons, all four boys had begun to thrive and to gain weight.

Prosecutors said that if convicted on all 28 counts, Jackson and his wife could face up to 280 years in prison. An arraignment date has not been set.