Allegedly Starved Boy Did Have Eating Disorder

Allegedly Starved Boy Did Have Eating Disorder

NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003

TRENTON, N.J. – The oldest of four boys allegedly starved by their adoptive parents had developed a serious eating disorder long before he was placed in the custody of child welfare officials, according to confidential state records cited in a newspaper report Thursday.

The Division of Youth and Family Services reports, obtained by the Star-Ledger of Newark, show that by age 2, Bruce Jackson regularly gorged on food and vomited it. A few years later, he consumed an entire bottle of Scotch and his grandmother's blood pressure pills, the newspaper reported.

'Feral'

After he was taken from his family and placed with foster parents Vanessa and Raymond Jackson, he was examined by a psychiatrist who said he was a "feral child" preoccupied with food and stared weekly treatment, the records show.

According to the newspaper, there is no record that treatment continued after the couple adopted him in 1996.

The Jacksons were charged with aggravated assault and child endangerment after Bruce was found scrounging through a neighbor's trash for food on Oct. 10. The four boys, ages 9 to 19, each weighed 45 pounds or less.

The Jacksons have claimed that the boys had eating disorders that left them underdeveloped. In an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes II" Wednesday they denied the charges against them, and their biological children said the boys were never denied food.

State Contradicts Itself

State officials have said the boys did not have eating disorders and were just not fed. Calls seeking comment from a DYFS spokesman were not immediately returned on Thursday.

State officials have previously said the boys did not have eating disorders and were just not fed. The case outraged state officials and neighbors, and led to the firing of nine child welfare employees who were supposed to be supervising the children's care.

Yet Now They're Suddenly Gaining Weight

Bruce Jackson has been hospitalized since Oct. 10. Camden County Prosecutor Vincent Sarubbi said Wednesday that he had gained 18 pounds and that the other three boys, now living in foster homes, had gained between 9 and 16 pounds.

Also this week, Bruce Jackson's biological mother said she wanted to be part of her son's life again. He was an infant when he was taken from Joanne Principal because officials felt she lacked the skills to raise him. The boy was turned over to father and paternal grandmother. DYFS records indicate the father underfed him, a charge he denies.

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