Couple Accused of Abusing Sons

COLLINGSWOOD, N.J. -- Neighbors said they saw little of Vanessa and Raymond Jackson and their family.

But what they did see, the neighbors said, left them wondering whether they should call authorities.

The ill-looking, adopted boys in the yard behind the Jacksons' three-story house have now become the latest focal point in a line of high-profile problems for the Division of Youth and Family Services, New Jersey's child welfare agency.

Raymond Jackson, 50, and Vanessa Jackson, 48, were arrested Friday and charged with trying to starve four boys they adopted through DYFS between 1995 and 1997. Both were charged with four counts of aggravated assault and 14 counts of endangering the welfare of children. They were being held Sunday in the Camden County Jail on $100,000 bail.

Kristine Kordacki's condominium along the White Horse Pike in this Philadelphia suburb overlooks the yard of the home she said the Jacksons began renting five years ago.

The sight of the gaunt older boy was so sad, she said, that she could barely look at him. He never seemed to grow, she said.

On a few occasions, she wanted to ask the children about the conditions in their home, but there always seemed to be an adult with them.

She considered calling authorities but wasn't sure whether the boys lived there, or were there in some kind of day care. And she thought they might have been sick rather than neglected, as authorities now allege.

"Now I'm like: Why didn't I call?" she said.

She also said that there were long stretches when she would not see any of the children.

When they did leave the house, she and other neighbors said they often did so to cut the grass with shears.

Raymond Jackson's brother said the children were in such bad shape because of problems with their mothers' pregnancies.

"It has nothing to do with being neglected," William Jackson told The Sunday Star-Ledger of Newark. "They were born with drug addiction and eating disorders. As long as I've known these kids, they've never grown."

The Jacksons came to the attention of police on Oct. 10, when their oldest adopted son, Bruce Jackson, 19, was discovered by a neighbor rummaging through trash for food.

Authorities said the teen and his adopted brothers -- ages 14, 10 and 9 -- were locked out of the family's kitchen and fed a diet of uncooked pancake batter, peanut butter and jelly and cereal. The boys gnawed on wallboard and insulation for more nutrition, they told investigators.

The 19-year-old was 4 feet tall and weighed 45 pounds when he was found. The other boys were also short and malnourished, authorities said, as a result of the abuse they allegedly suffered.

The Jacksons' biological son and daughter, both in their 20s, also lived in the home, authorities said. Three other girls in the home -- two adopted and the third a foster daughter the couple were trying to adopt -- all seemed to be in good shape, authorities said.

A central question that has emerged in the case, state officials and child welfare advocates say, is why a DYFS case worker visiting the family as it tried to adopt the girl did not intervene. That case worker has resigned, and eight to 10 other DYFS workers have been suspended with pay, state officials said.

The girls, unlike the boys, went on vacations with the parents to time-share homes in the Poconos and Virginia, authorities said.

Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said that though Raymond Jackson has said he was a financial planner, he appeared to have gotten most of his income from the stipends for raising children placed in his home by the state.

That income peaked at $28,000 before the oldest adopted son turned 18 last year. In a household with 11 people, it didn't go far. For four months this year, there was no electricity in the home.

Collingswood, an inner-ring suburb of Philadelphia that is enjoying a downtown and neighborhood renaissance, has a reputation in southern New Jersey as a place with a strong community spirit.

Pete D'Amico, who lives a few blocks from the Jacksons, said if more neighbors had known what was happening, they would have gotten involved.

"So help me God," he said, "I did not see the physical facts, or I would've been there."

Copyright 2003 by NBC 10. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Author: NBC10