LDS Child Abuse: thoughts on the Ruby Franke/8 Passengers arrest

A big story out of Utah this week is the arrest of and criminal charges filed against LDS Momfluencer and YouTube star Ruby Franke (2.4 million followers) and her live-in “business partner” Jodi Hildebrand on multiple accounts of intentional aggravated child abuse (against Ruby’s own children, 2 of whom were found to have been bound and starved). Ruby’s 3 sisters (whom together also have millions of followers on YouTube) released a joint statement on Instagram saying that the arrest of both women “needed to happen”. Ruby’s own oldest daughter, Shari (20), now estranged from her mother, said, “finally”, and elaborated that some of the family had been attempting to get the police and CPS involved for a number of years now. Ruby’s husband Kevin (who moved out over a year ago, around the same time Jodi moved in) has not been arrested but also not been granted custody of the 4 minor-aged Franke children taken by CPS. Whether he will be similarly charged remains to be seen. He has lawyered up, but whether to obtain custody or defend possible future charges against himself remains to be seen. Since the arrest, many shorter clips and compilations of Ruby’s more infamous parenting tactics and anecdotes have been going viral online. Dr Julie Hanks, founder of Wasatch Family Therapy, on the Mormon Stories podcast’s coverage of the Franke news story, characterized a number of Ruby’s statements about her own parenting style as possessing a “complete lack of empathy (for) and connection with the children”. <a href="https://calebrockstedt.medium.com/lds-child-abuse-thoughts-on-the-ruby-franke-8-passengers-arrest-dcc451e9a828">Visit Now</a>