By Katie Daviscourt – The Postmillennial
San Francisco police officers removed 6-year-old twin boys who were locked inside a cage in a SoMo apartment unit that is being leased by the boys’ single elderly father, aged 74, who had them via surrogacy.
Child Protective Services (CPS) made the discovery on August 2 during a home visit. The boys were found enclosed in a “human-size cage” and a CPS worker was unable to free them, resulting in police being called for assistance. “They’re still in a cage, and the [responding party] is unable to open it,” the dispatcher told authorities, according to the San Francisco Standard. “The children do not appear to be injured, but they are in an enclosed, human-size cage.”
Officers arrived at the scene and retrieved the twin boys from the cage, who were transported via ambulance to a hospital for medical evaluations and then taken into custody by CPS, a police spokesperson said.
The boys’ elderly father, identified only as “Raymond,” told the paper that he locks his kids inside the custom gate to keep them safe, and only for a short period of time. He denied that the twins were being kept in a cage, explaining that the boys’ bedroom is an open loft and he installed metal bars and a gate to keep his autistic child from injuring himself.
“To be fair, it does look like a cage,” said Raymond, explaining that he spent “tens of thousands of dollars” on the custom gate. He said that he only locks his kids inside for 30 minutes at a time, mostly when he’s downstairs in the kitchen.
“He may blow up, he may melt down, and he can get violent,” said Raymond, speaking to the paper about his neurodivergent twin. “And that’s when I absolutely need to lock him in the loft, to keep him safe.”
Raymond, 74, who has not been charged with a crime, will now have to plead to CPS to regain custody of his children. He said that a CPS worker told him that he needed to clean up his home if he wanted to regain custody. Describing Raymond’s home, the outlet wrote, “piles of old mail and packaging covered the dining table. Saltine boxes towered above a wooden kitchen island. Clothing overflowed from a crib. Narrow pathways snaked through the piles, bags of books, cardboard boxes, stacks of paper, toys, and pillows.”
He had the twins via surrogacy in 2019 at the age of 67. “I’m a senior, first-time parent, single parent, to twins, without domestic help,” said Raymond, adding that he does not have any relatives in the area he can call on for assistance. He explained that he is not friends with the parents at his kids’ school, and has not found another parent with an autistic child that he could turn to for support.
“I underestimated the work that is involved in raising children,” said Raymond. “But I have no regrets. I love them.”
A special education teacher told the paper that it is not uncommon for parents to lock their autistic children inside their rooms, referring to the tactic as safe spaces or quiet time. “There are a lot of people who have to be like, ‘This is their time-out space.’ As long as it’s a quiet space, it can be the best option,” said special education teacher Carissa Martos, who also works as a service provider to families with autistic children.