Genie

November 4, 1970 - It was on this day that a mother and an odd child walked into a welfare office in Temple City, California. The child was a girl who appeared to be 6 or 7 years old and possibly autistic. She was mostly silent, and she moved in a strange bunny walk where she held her hands out in front of her like paws. When a welfare worker found out the girl was actually 13 years old, the Sheriff's department was notified.

An investigation revealed that the girl, nicknamed Genie, had been held in one small room in Arcadia, California for most of her life. During the day she was bound to a potty chair in a diaper. At night she would sometimes sleep in a modified crib with a metal screen covering the top of it. If she spoke or made sounds, her father would growl or bark at her as he beat her with a large stick.

When she was finally rescued, she was almost completely non-verbal. The study of her social, mental, and physical development quickly became a landmark case. Doctors and researchers argued over which methods and treatments would offer her the best chance of rehabilitation.

Genie did learn to vocalize some simple words and phrases. She also used sign language, but her progress was often hampered by changing foster homes and the tug-of-wars by various doctors and treatments.

In 1974, the National Institute of Mental Health cut off their funding for the project that was researching Genie's development. The decision was based on a lack of data being generated and the inconsistent records that were being kept on Genie's progress.

Over the next few years Genie bounced around a series of foster homes. In some of these she may have encountered more abuse. In one instance she was severely punished for vomiting, and as a result she acquired a fear of opening her mouth.

Not much is publicly known about Genie's current status. She apparently still lives in a foster home somewhere in Southern California.