Parents who caged their autistic children arrested

A Vancouver couple are facing criminal mistreatment charges after police say they locked two children, ages 5 and 7, in a caged room. Officers responded to a welfare check request from Child Protective Services at an apartment on Northeast 66th Avenue. According to investigators, the responding patrol officers discovered two of the children were locked in a bedroom that had the door removed and replaced with a cage-like door, restricting access to the rest of the apartment.



The responding officer described finding the children with just a dirty mattress, no blankets, clothes or toys. The report states: "As I got close to the cage to take photographs, the children came close to me and were reaching their arms through to try and grab on to me. They were both making moaning noises and they tapped their fingers together through the holes between the metal bars. When I got close to them, I could smell a strong odour of urine coming from their diapers.”

When questioned by officers, Alayna Higdon said that she kept them locked up "because they are autistic, it's the only way to contain them." John Eckhart was not home when police first arrived. When officers talked to him and asked why the children were in a cage, they say he responded, "What am I supposed to do, let them run around the house and get into everything? What kind of [expletive] parenting is that?'"


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Two further children aged 9 years and 11 months were not shut in the bedroom. Police say the infant is the couple's common child. Eckhart is the biological father of the autistic boys, and Higdon is the biological mother of 9 year old boy. CPS responded and took custody of all of the children. A spokeswoman said they've been placed in foster care. Higdon and Eckhart were booked into the Clark County Jail.