Adopted children found starving
Adopted children found starving
By Rachel E. Leonard
Published: Thursday, September 28, 2006
Union County social workers did not remove two severely malnourished children from their Jonesville home after receiving multiple complaints about the children's home life, according to reports from the Union County Sheriff's Office.
Now officers are investigating what they believe to be a long pattern of abuse.
Deputies found the 10-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl at a church playground Saturday after their mother locked them out of the house at 161 West Lane to go shopping in Spartanburg, the children told investigators. The boy weighed 45 pounds, the girl only 40 pounds.
Both children, who are adopted, said their mother also locked them in their rooms at times, refused to feed them and abused them.
According to investigators' reports, a social worker with the Union County Department of Social Services said when contacted by officers that her department had received several reports concerning the children but was "never able to do anything."
Deputies charged the children's mother, Connie Lucille Oliver, 53, with unlawful neglect by a legal custodian, a felony. Her husband, John William Oliver, 48, was charged with misdemeanor cruelty to children.
Connie Oliver was released from the Union County jail under a $10,000 bond, said Union County sheriff's Lt. Robert Hines. John Oliver was released after his bond was set at $465. The children were placed into emergency protective custody.
"When I saw the little boy, I thought he was between 7 or 8, and when I saw the girl, I thought she was 6 or 7," Hines said. "Come to find out, she's 12 and he's 10, about to be 11. I thought, 'No way.' "
The children were very petite for their ages and had bones showing in their arms, legs and facial areas, Hines said. The Saturday complaint was the first that the Union County Sheriff's Office had received about the children, he noted.
A biological child also lived with the Olivers and was with Connie Oliver when authorities found the malnourished children.
No one at the Union County Department of Social Services could be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Connie Oliver worked as a teacher's aide for at least two elementary schools in Laurens School District 56 and had been employed nearly five years, district officials said.
Assistant Superintendent Laura Koskela said Connie Oliver had been placed on administrative leave.
John Oliver is employed by Media General, the parent company of WSPA-TV.
Neighbors fed children
A neighbor who saw the children outside Saturday afternoon and believed they were not being properly cared for called 911. The woman told officers that Connie Oliver left the children at the playground for hours every Saturday, and two neighbors told deputies they would feed the children because they were always hungry.
Officers found the boy and girl at nearby Bogansville United Methodist Church, just a few miles east of the Spartanburg County line. Both children said their mother had locked them out of the house to go shopping and that they had not eaten that day.
Neighbors said Wednesday they noticed signs the children were being neglected.
"I knew they weren't being taken care of as good as they should," said Tyler West of West Lane. "Their clothes kind of didn't fit good."
Bogansville United Methodist pastor Gary Peterson said the children often visited the church playground, especially on weekends.
"Sometimes they wanted something to drink, or wanted to use the bathroom in the church, so we'd let them," he said.
His wife, Stephanie, said she and her husband let the children into their home one cold, rainy day last winter and gave them hot chocolate to drink.
Similar case
The Jonesville case is the second involving malnourished children to attract local attention within three months. In July, Scott and Molly McCurry of Lyman were charged with child abuse inflicting great bodily injury after Spartanburg County sheriff's deputies found three starving boys in their custody.
The youngest boy under the McCurrys' care, age 5, weighed less than 20 pounds. The two older boys, ages 7 and 8, each weighed less than 40 pounds.
The McCurry case is pending.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Rachel E. Leonard can be reached at 562-7230, or