How Could You? Hall of Shame-Melvin and Kenya Bloomingburg UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Memphis, Tennessee, ” Memphis police say they found a child chained up in a backyard shed. ”

“Six children were removed from the home… The 8-year-old boy is at the center of the bizarre investigation.

It started when police received a call from a sibling that the child was chained up in the backyard shed, but physically, he wasn’t hurt.

“Just to make me think about it, it’s awful,” said neighbor Elaine Evans. “You know, we speak like you speak to your neighbors, don’t try to get in their business, but they seem pretty nice people, but you never know.”

Several neighborhood children said the boy was chained up at least once before when they wanted him to play basketball with them.

“Then he was like ‘I can’t, I’m chained up’ and I said ‘why you chained up?’ And he said ‘ask my mama,'” said one neighborhood boy.

Police contacted the Department of Children’s Services, whose investigators joined officers on the scene for much of the day. DCS is working to determine the relationship between the adults inside the house and the children.

WMC Action News 5’s Jason Miles asked one child what he hoped for the 8-year-old.

The child said, “That he get a new home and that they treat him like he really family.”

As of Thursday evening, no charges had been filed. The young child in the home was 2 years old and the oldest was 14 years old.”

Child found restrained in Memphis home[KSLA 7/4/14]

“The mother of a child found chained up in a backyard shed says she wants her parental rights back.

It’s a fight that came to a head last week when she saw her son being taken from his adoptive parents on WMC Action News 5.

Dionne Robinson had her parental rights terminated five years ago after she deserted her children in a drug-fueled haze.

“I had a drug problem back then and that caused them to take them,” she said.

Now she wants a second chance at being a mom.

“It was very heart breaking for me. I just broke down in tears, because that’s nothing a child should ever have to go through,” said Robinson.

On July 3, Memphis police rushed the home of Melvin and Kenya Bloomingburg on… after a young girl called 911 to report that her brother was chained up in the backyard shed.

Robinson says the boy and girl are her biological children; they were taken from her in 2006 after she left one at a homeless shelter and the other with a neighbor and never returned. Court records show that in 2009, Robinson lost all parental rights and her children were adopted.

Robinson—who is now sober, educated, and employed—says in April of this year, her now 14-year-old daughter reached out to her on Facebook. In a private message, the teenager revealed her address and new name.

“When I saw it I was thinking, I was just waiting to see what the address was and when they said…and Bloomingburg, I knew then that it was my babies,” said Robinson. “And when they said it was the sister that called in, I knew.”

Now it’s a waiting game for a mother fighting to regain her parental rights after seeing her children removed yet again.

“I just want my babies home with me, where they can be loved and taken care of like they should be,” she said.

Six children were removed from the home…last week, and Robinson has contacted an attorney.

The Department of Children’s Services said in a statement Monday, “We still have a lot of work to do to understand the circumstances. We will still be working closely with law enforcement and prosecutors.”

So far, no arrests have been made, and there has been no explanation as to why the child was chained up in a shed.”

Biological mother of child found chained to shed wants him back[KpTV 7/8/14 by Lauren Squires]

“The Department of Child Services is trying to figure out who six children belong to after they were taken from a home where a boy was found in restraints.

All the children were removed from a house in the 5600 block of Gaywinds Avenue Thursday. Neighbors tell WREG that’s where a young boy was found chained up.

DCS said, according to their records, none of the children taken from the house are foster kids.

WREG tried talking to a man who claimed to be the own the house. He wouldn’t share his name, but the home’s owners are listed as Melvin and Kenya Bloomingburg. They have lived there since 2006. The man refused to talk to a WREG reporter about the children or the accusations.

DCS said the house was a foster home for the last two years, but the family stopped fostering in February. They said there were never any problems during that time.

However Thursday night, the house was swarming with police after hearing a child was being restrained in a shed behind it.

A neighbor, Valerie Golden, said, “My son was over here playing with the kids a while ago, and they said the little boy was chained to the back fence back there.”

Six children were taken from the home. At this time, DCS is not saying how they are related to the adults in the house.

Calvin Hudson talked to WREG Thursday and claimed to be the children’s uncle.

“I never saw them chained or stuff,” he said.

Some neighbors said they were always suspicious of the family.

“These kids in the neighborhood have been telling us what’s going on,” Golden said.

However, others said if it is true, the family put on a good front. “

There was maybe two she adopted and then I think she has maybe three of her own,” Barbara Johnson-McKinney said of the kids on the house. “But good parents! Good parents!”

No arrests have been made at this point, but the Memphis Police Department said the investigation is ongoing.”

Many questions remain after boy is found chained up at Memphis home[WREG 7/4/14 by Katie Rufener]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update: “An 8-year-old child who was chained up called 911 for help and now his adoptive parents are behind bars on child abuse charges.

Police arrested Melvin and Kenya Bloomingburg Wednesday evening. According to the affidavit, one of their adoptive sons called 911 and told police he was chained to his bedroom wall.

The affidavit also states when officers found the child his clothes were soaked in urine. The 8-year-old was taken to LeBonheur Children’s Hospital where doctors found scarring, abrasions, and signs of malnutrition.

The child told police that he had to sleep on a dresser while he was chained up in his bedroom. He also said that he was chained inside a backyard shed for three days and was denied food by his mother and father.

Six other children were removed from the home in the … on Thursday, July 3.

The biological mother of the child found chained up in the house says she wants her parental rights back.

Both Melvin and Kenya Bloomingburg, the adoptive parents, are facing aggravated child abuse charges. In court Thursday, the couple was arraigned; Kendra saw a judge in person while Melvin communicated through a video camera.

The two were told that if convicted they could be in prison from eight to 60 years for the charges.

Melvin Bloomingburg is locked up under a $75,000 bond and his wife is on a $25,000 bond.”

Chained up child calls 911, parents face abuse charges[WAFB 7/10/14]

Update 2:“A grand jury indicted a Memphis couple accused of chaining up their adopted 8-year-old son in July 2014.

Melvin and Kenya Bloomingburg, both accused of child abuse, are both free on bond.

The two were arrested in July after their son called 911, telling them he was chained by his ankle to a wall inside the couple’s Fox Meadows home. The 8-year-old was later diagnosed with ulcers and malnutrition. 

According to the affidavit of complaint, the boy told investigators that his parents regularly denied him food. He said they once chained him up in the backyard shed for days and when he was chained inside, he had to sleep on a dresser.

With the Bloomingburgs out on bond, WMC Action News 5’s Kontji Anthony went by their home but there was no answer

A man sitting in a black SUV down the street spoke with Kontji, but insisted that he was not Melvin Bloomingburg. An archive search showed the same black SUV with the same distinctive stickers parked in the Bloomingburg’s driveway back in July.

According to Department of Children’s Services, all six of the couple’s children are now in state custody.

Some neighbors say they had no idea any children lived in the house — wondering whether they were all holed up in some form or fashion.

The couple is due in court to enter a plea.”

Couple accused of chaining up adopted son indicted on child abuse charges[Wmc Action News 2/6/15 ]