It has been three weeks since officials raided a “House of Horrors” in a small Ohio town and rescued 16 “almost feral” children who were found living in squalor and confined to a single room, according to law enforcement.

The Siders Home where 16 children were confined to a single room for 4 years.Credit : Carolyn Kaster/AP

The children, who range in age from 18 months to 18 years old, were initially transported to local hospitals for evaluation. Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said at a July 1 news conference, the day after the raid, that some were treated and released, some needed additional medical care and a few had extended stays after being admitted in serious condition by attending physicians.

Their parents, Elizabeth and Gary Siders II, and their paternal grandparents Christina and Gary Siders Sr., were arrested on the day of the raid and each charged with 16 counts of child neglect.

Three of the four remain in custody, while Gary Sr. was granted release for medical reasons.

Gary Siders II and Elizabeth Siders (l to r).SOUTHEASTERN OHIO REGIONAL JAIL

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The 16 children and four adults lived in Hamden, a town in Vinton County. The county now has custody of the children.

The county, and more specifically South Central Ohio Job & Family Services, is now tasked with managing the care of all 16 children and overseeing the funding that will allow them to receive the treatment they need in the wake of their traumatic upbringing.

That small agency and the county received assistance earlier this month when the state of Ohio transferred over $1 million in emergency funds for the children.

Joel Potts, the Chief Government and External Affairs Officer for the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, spoke before the Ohio Controlling Board prior to their vote authorizing the release of these emergency funds, and discussed the costs associated with the care of the 16 children.

He explained to the members of the board that the children will be “needing therapeutic foster care for quite some time to come,” and that the daily average cost for each child’s care would fall somewhere between $150 and $250.

That would amount to approximately $1 million in costs for the first year alone, and as Potts noted, it would “bankrupt the county ,” which is the poorest in the state and has only about 1,200 residents.

He later said at the board meeting that it is a tᩚraɢedy to learn of a single child who has been living “off the radar,” but 16 of them is something he has just not seen.

Despite being born in hospitals, there were few records confirming that any of the 16 children existed, and even neighbors told law enforcement that they were unaware children were living at the house.

Gary Siders Sr.SOUTHEASTERN OHIO REGIONAL JAIL

Christina Siders.SOUTHEASTERN OHIO REGIONAL JAIL

The condition of the home was described by Wilson, who said he could not shake the pungent scent from inside the home 24 hours after the raid and believed that the rescue mission might have been too late to save the children had officials not acted immediately when they learned of the situation.

Wilson said the children were “covered in bugs and squatting and had that like distant look in their eyes.”

He also said that determining the extent of the alleged neglect had been challenging because of the children’s “extremely limited” ability to communicate.

The goal now is to get the children into foster care and eventually adopted, said officials, who are classifying the eldest as a minor despite being 18 because of her limitations.

Meanwhile, all four defendants have pleaded not guilty to the child neglect charges. Judge Laina Fetherolf has set the bond for the three defendants who remain in jail at $300,000.

Authorities will not say what led to their arrest and the raid but court records do show that were formally filed on June 30 against Gary Siders II and that the local sheriff’s office had been approved to serve a summons to him that same day.

Elizabeth, meanwhile, is seeking pretrial release and has expressed her desire to reunite with her children.

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