Prison for abusive foster parents
Two foster parents charged with abusing three orphaned brothers in their care were sentenced to prison on Wednesday by the Falu District Court in central Sweden.
The couple, who ran a foster home in Dalarna, were convicted of gross violation of integrity (grov fridskränkning), but acquitted of a number of other charges, including illegal coercion, abuse, and illegal deprivation of liberty.
The 42-year-old man and his 49-year-old wife have each been sentenced to eighteen months in prison and together must pay 125,000 kronor ($16,300) in damages to each of the three boys.
The three young brothers had been placed in the foster home the couple operated on their farm in Dalarna in April 2001 after their mother passed away and their father couldn’t care for them due to substance abuse problems.
The boys were two, four, and five-years-old at the time.
From March 2004 through August 2007, the three brothers were subjected to repeated and wide-ranging abuse.
Two of the boys were hung out the attic window as punishment for letting sheep out of their pasture. All three boys were also locked in their room when they broke rules in the house.
The man was also charged for having tied up the boys in bags and hung them from hooks in the attic ceiling, but the court dismissed the charges due to a lack of convincing evidence.
The abuse of the boys was revealed when the children were moved to other foster homes and began to tell their new foster parents what had happened.
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The couple, who ran a foster home in Dalarna, were convicted of gross violation of integrity (grov fridskränkning), but acquitted of a number of other charges, including illegal coercion, abuse, and illegal deprivation of liberty.
The 42-year-old man and his 49-year-old wife have each been sentenced to eighteen months in prison and together must pay 125,000 kronor ($16,300) in damages to each of the three boys.
The three young brothers had been placed in the foster home the couple operated on their farm in Dalarna in April 2001 after their mother passed away and their father couldn’t care for them due to substance abuse problems.
The boys were two, four, and five-years-old at the time.
From March 2004 through August 2007, the three brothers were subjected to repeated and wide-ranging abuse.
Two of the boys were hung out the attic window as punishment for letting sheep out of their pasture. All three boys were also locked in their room when they broke rules in the house.
The man was also charged for having tied up the boys in bags and hung them from hooks in the attic ceiling, but the court dismissed the charges due to a lack of convincing evidence.
The abuse of the boys was revealed when the children were moved to other foster homes and began to tell their new foster parents what had happened.
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