West Virginia couple adopts black children to use as ‘slaves’ – Real WV

From The Big Ideas, Think Kids’ Newsletter for July 2024. First published in Black By God on July 15, 2024.

Beginning of October Kanawha County couple arrested were charged with gross child neglect causing substantial risk of injury when three children were discovered being held captive in a shed on their Sissonville property.

You may remember the story: Donald Ray Lantz and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather were accused of locking their adopted children in a barn on their property and forcing them to work.

The couple face trial later this year on 16 charges, including human trafficking, forced labor, gross child neglect and civil rights violations.

The shocking story made headlines across the state. But parts of the story that didn’t get media attention are now clear – that the children are black and the couple is white.

Crystal Good wrote about this oversight on our blog Mid-October.

When the indictment became public and the judge declared that the Case is one of the worst charges she had seen in her time as a judge, the story soon attracted national attention, from AP correspondent To ABC News,USA Today, CNN, NBC NewsAnd The New York Post.

Watch for the trial later this year. Since this story broke, members of the media have sought answers from the Department of Human Services/Child Protective Services. After the state refused to respond to FOIA requests, and as a state class action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security over foster care continues, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Eifert has ordered the state to release records related to the case.

Judge Eifert is still considers sanctions against the state because it had not retained emails from former officials of the Ministry of Health who could have dealt with the problems of foster families.

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