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by Francie Healy (Author)
Children of Jericho is the true story of three small children whose halting, strange stories blew open a shocking case of multi-generational child sexual abuse in Prescott, Ontario, Canada, up to the early 1990s. It is told from my perspective as a professional journalist, writer, and foster mother. When we invited these three damaged children into our family, we had no idea what we were getting into or the impact it would have on all of us.The children, ages 3, 5 and 7, arrived at our house in a whirlwind. They threw things. They cried. They screamed. They fought each other over the smallest scraps of food. They weren't wearing diapers, and they were incontinent. The three-year-old grunted rather than talked. The other two were difficult to understand. Somehow we managed, one day at a time, to soothe them, to listen to them, to teach them how to eat, how to play. And little by little, as we earned their trust, they began to tell us what had happened to them. They talked about monsters, about people wearing hoods, about being forced to drink blood, about dead bodies in a graveyard. We kept listening, not outwardly reacting. Night after night I kept detailed notes so I could make sense of what we were hearing, and I shared them with the social workers.
One day they told us about Joshua: how their stepfather, Billy, shot him right in front of them. Joshua was a newborn baby.
From that moment, social workers alerted police and the investigation, called Project Jericho, began. It unearthed many such incidents with hundreds of other kids, eventually revealing a network of nearly 100 perpetrators in a low-rent neighbourhood in Prescott. Victimized children were put into care and provided with years of therapy.
Children of Jericho describes the Project Jericho investigation, the court cases, and the 98% conviction rate of the perpetrators - most of whom had once been abused children themselves. It includes news clippings from the scandal as it unfolded and became public coast to coast after the murder of baby Joshua.
The story is about navigating this incredibly chaotic, emotional and shocking time while also trying just to be a family. It is a story of self-doubt, fear, heartbreak, courage, and triumph. The three children, now adults, have not taken the path of their ancestors. They live simple, content lives. The terrible cycle of their early childhood is broken.
