A lady who gained notoriety for providing contentious parenting guidance has been sentenced to a minimum of four years in jail for child abuse. What transpired with Ruby Franke and her family?
On a late August morning in Utah, a 12-year-old child, adorned with open wounds, knocked on a neighbor’s door requesting food and drink.
According to authorities, he had fled a nearby residence seconds prior by exiting through a window and sprinting away with duct tape still affixed to his ankles.
The youngster was admitted to the hospital due to malnourishment and severe lacerations resulting from being restrained with rope, as stated in the arrest record.
Four children were sent into care, and Ruby Franke, a parenting influencer and mother of six, was apprehended.
On Tuesday, 42-year-old Ruby Franke emotionally expressed remorse in court upon receiving her sentence, stating: “I was so disoriented that I perceived darkness as light and right as wrong.”
She already confessed to neglecting and mistreating her children.
She stood alongside her former business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, 54, who received an identical sentence. Each woman was incarcerated for four separate periods ranging from one to 15 years each.
Ruby Franke’s arrest was unsurprising to some, considering the multitude of films over several years that had elicited criticism of her stringent parenting approach.
She was the creator of the 8 Passengers YouTube channel, which debuted in 2015 during a surge of popularity for several family vlogging channels—an established genre that was generating revenue on the platform.
One year later, her films amassed tens of thousands of viewers. She informed local journalists at that time that recording herself with her family assisted her in “living in the present and simply enjoying the children.”
The tapes she edited provided insight into her life, depicting a conventional Mormon suburban family engaged in home-schooling, cooking, dining, and conversing together.
However, certain occasions elicited scepticism.
In a video, she was observed informing her sons that they would “forfeit the privilege of dining” if they persisted in play-fighting. In another instance, she stated that her six-year-old “needed” to experience hunger after neglecting to bring her lunch to school.
“It is hoped that no one provides her with food or intervenes to offer her lunch, as this would hinder her learning,” she stated to the camera.
Her now-estranged husband, Kevin Franke, later remarked on the episode, stating that they had endeavoured to instruct their children to “live responsibly” as “masters of themselves.”
Notwithstanding the criticism, the Frankes’ authoritarian parenting style persisted, and the audience continued to expand. Experts contend that her achievement exemplifies a contemporary worry among parents, prompting them to choose extreme and detrimental solutions.
Dr. Maryhan Baker, a parenting psychologist, said the BBC that parents experiencing feelings of confusion and desperation, especially over troublesome behaviour, may find extreme approaches attractive, particularly when they observe positive outcomes.
Dr. Siggie Cohen elucidated that the success of family vlogging channels, such as Ruby Franke’s, can exploit individuals’ anxieties regarding their parenting abilities.
“Parents fear making errors and seek individuals who appear to be entirely authoritative and in command.”
A spontaneous remark by Franke’s adolescent son highlighted her parenting approach to a broader audience beyond the family vlogging community.
In a 2020 video, he disclosed that his bedroom had been confiscated for seven months, forcing him to sleep on a beanbag after executing pranks on his sibling. Franke stated in the video that her son shown an inability to maintain a bedroom and was presented with alternatives, including a guest bed or an inflatable mattress.
The tone of their conversation was jovial, eliciting laughter from Franke and her other child. However, some viewers were unsettled by the incident.
A petition initiated by an individual seeking an investigation garnered thousands of signatures, prompting the involvement of child protective services.
The controversy prompted other YouTube and TikTok users to create videos about the family, accumulating millions of views. Archived footage, including instances of Franke articulating the use of meal deprivation as a punitive strategy, reemerged and garnered significant media attention.
In reaction to the scandal, Ruby and Kevin Franke informed the news outlet Insider that certain accounts possessed “malicious” motives and deliberately misrepresented the clips.
They were just intent on disseminating animosity. That was their sole purpose. Ruby Franke stated, “A rational individual would not have viewed that video and concluded: ‘She is a child abuser.'”
Kevin Franke’s attorney then dissociated him from the abuse claims, asserting that he played no part in them.
Randy Kester said Good Morning America that he is a commendable individual, asserting that the Frankes had been in separate residences for the last 13 months.
Kevin Franke subsequently initiated divorce proceedings against his wife and requested the highest penalty be levied on her, describing the torture endured by his children as “horrific and inhumane.”
The issue signified the onset of the decline for the 8 Passengers YouTube channel. Daily videos were reduced to two or three per week, eventually ceasing entirely before deletion.
Ruby Franke continued to engage on social media, establishing a new advisory channel in June 2022 named ConneXions, alongside her business partner and counsellor, Hildebrandt.
Their collaborative output attracted a minuscule portion of the attention that 8 Passengers garnered at its peak. Franke asserted that the venture enabled her to amass millions. She departed from that profitable realm, she stated, to protect her children.
Recent posts on their shared Instagram account, Moms of Truth, provide parenting advice, encouraging followers to eschew “coping strategies” that divert from the “pain and discomfort of Reality/Truth”.
The nature of this reality or truth remains ambiguous; nonetheless, the enumerated coping mechanisms encompass social media, physical activity, and social interaction.
On 30 August, the two ladies were apprehended following the escape of Franke’s emaciated son. Subsequently, they were indicted on six counts of child abuse.
Her eldest daughter stated on Instagram, “Justice is being served,” asserting that she had been attempting to alert the police and child protective services about her estranged family for years.
Ruby Franke’s apprehension “was necessary,” her sisters stated in a collective declaration, noting that they had previously remained silent for the welfare of the children involved.
Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt did not respond to a BBC request for comment following their charges. The law firm representing Franke informed the BBC that they would refrain from issuing a statement.
Ruby Franke’s children are currently safe, as reported by her sisters and estranged daughter, who indicated that they had “a long road ahead” to rehabilitation.
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.