JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man and a woman from Mixon Town were arrested on Saturday after a nurse alerted the Department of Children and Families of the condition of a child brought into the emergency room.
Police reports state that when officers arrived at the home of Anthony Jones, 37, and Erica Bryant, 33, they discovered four extremely thin children.
Upon receiving medical care, doctors at Wolfson’s Children Hospital noted that all five were severely underweight for their age, and a couple were malnourished.
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The ages of the victims are not yet known, but their weights ranged from 44 to 75 pounds.
One responding officer noted that he could clearly see one child’s bony prominence.
Doctors at Wolfson’s also noted that several of the children had cuts and bruising, including on one child’s left ankle and another child’s left wrist.
The police reports state that none of the children had eaten yet that day when officers responded at nearly 10 p.m.
During the investigation, those same reports state that the kitchen was fully stocked with nutritious food, including deli meat, bread and frozen food.
When investigators asked why the children were malnourished, police say that Jones could not provide a reason, and Bryant said that Jones was supposed to be responsible for the cooking.
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Lynn Wadelton, a child psychologist for more than 30 years, says a child experiencing this type of neglect can take a lifetime to recover.
“Emotionally, when you’re not nurtured and fed, there are extreme anxiety, trauma, depression, severe mood changes, and a long-term problem connecting and trusting others,” Wadelton said. “Eventually, they’ll try to relearn and recreate the story of how this happened to them and what it means about them and what it means about the world and what it means about love and safety.”
We asked Wadelton what it would take for one of these children to learn how to trust again.
“They don’t always, and that’s something that is a sad fact,” Wadelton said. “Despite how much love you pour in, they don’t always adapt.”
She says her advice to anyone viewing the story is to check in on neighbors and family members if you feel you haven’t seen them in a while.
“If you’re a neighbor and you don’t notice kids going to school, or you see something that concerns you, you can request a wellness check,” Wadelton said. “A lot of times, though, this is very well hidden.”
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She says normally situations like this stem from the parents themselves having experienced extreme abuse or substance abuse.
“The first thing that comes to my mind, and probably to most of your viewers’ minds, is how shocking this is, and how can this happen, because the instinct that humans and animals have to nurture and feed their child is such a strong instinct,” Wadelton said. “So, something had to go horribly, horribly wrong for this kind of event to happen.”
Jones and Bryant are both being held on a $125,000 bond.
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