COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The discovery of 16 siblings who authorities say were held at a rural Ohio home for years in squalid conditions is straining the county’s resources as it works to prosecute their parents and two grandparents and provide care to so many children at once.
The local prosecutor said the cost of medical care required also for one of the defendants alone would have bankrupted Vinton County, which led the court to change the grandfather’s bond and release him from jail on his own recognizance for care at a hospital so the county didn’t have to pay for it. Meanwhile, the county sought help from other prosecutors on the criminal case and is counting on approval next week of $1 million from the state to assist with care for the children, including some who have medical needs or are unable to speak.
Vinton is Ohio’s smallest county and one of its poorest, a rambling 415 square miles (1075 square kilometers) of isolated Appalachian terrain with one traffic light and a single grocery store. That makes the case of the Siders family “an unprecedented child welfare crisis” there, state officials said…