Marsha And Suzana Gray: Mother-Daughter Duo Caught On Film Abusing Special Needs Child [Video]

WARNING: Video footage may be disturbing to viewers.

Mother Marsha Gray, 41, teamed up with her 24-year-old daughter Suzana Gray, in order to torment and abuse a child with special needs, WDTN reports. Marsha Gray has been the child’s foster mother for years.

The abuse of the little girl with special needs was captured on a cell phone and then posted to Facebook. The video shows suspects Marsha and Suzana Gray abusing the child, holding her down. Suzana Gray covered the child’s eyes, which, the person who posted the video on Facebook states, is a horrible fear of the child’s, WPSD reports. In the video, the little girl is clearly panicking, struggling against Suzana Gray and clearly trying to get away.

The foster mother, Marcia Gray, later tries to slap the little girl in the video.

The video went viral on Facebook and eventually led to the arrest of the two women. Now police are continuing to deal with concerned citizens calling in with information regarding Marsha and Suzana Gray, although the two have been arrested.

“We appreciate citizens’ concerns. At the same time, we have a job to do,” Deputy Jason Thomas, one of the officers working the case, told WFIE-TV. “The flood of calls can slow us down a bit. We appreciate the intent. We’re glad there is a concern for child abuse such as this.”

Deputies working on the case say that the little girl, who is reportedly only 11 years of age, was not physically injured, fortunately, but she has been removed from the home by social services for her own safety. The deputies report that Marsha Gray was arrested at her home on Wednesday after multiple citizens brought their attention to the disturbing video showing both Gray women abusing a child with special needs. Suzana Gray, the daughter, later turned herself in.

The Gray women both hail from Union County, Kentucky.

Watch the video below, but again, the footage may be disturbing and isn’t suitable for all viewers.

Child abuse in the foster system is a prevalent concern, the Children’s Right Organization reports.

“Many of America’s child welfare systems are badly broken — and children can suffer serious harm as a result. Some will be separated from their siblings. Others will be bounced from one foster care placement to another, never knowing when their lives will be uprooted next. Too many will be further abused in systems that are supposed to protect them. And instead of being safely reunified with their families — or moved quickly into adoptive homes — many will languish for years in foster homes or institutions.”

Many of these children already come from abusive backgrounds, and that is further compounded by the disruption of the actual foster care system, and then, when foster parents are abusive themselves, it’s devastating.

Yet it’s a necessary system that, for many foster children, provides them with the shelter that they need after being removed from an abusive home. There are approximately 415,000 children in foster care in the United States on any given day, the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System states, and in 2014, over 650,000 children total spent time in U.S. foster care.

Women like Marsha Gray and Suzana Gray exploit a system that is already stretched thin and abuse a child who has already been removed from a home at least once before because of concern over her safety. Furthermore, the child they abused has special needs — yet another aspect that makes a child more likely to be the target of abuse, Child Welfare states.

The Brown Bag campaign hopes to shine a spotlight on these children in the foster care system, who are all so worthy and deserving of a loving home. Small brown bags, printed with different stories of children in the foster system, all unique tales full of heartbreak and hope, as well as details of how children can overcome trauma when they are helped, are put inside newspapers.

The stories are printed on brown bags because, all too often, children who enter the foster system do so suddenly, with all their belongings packed into a brown bag.

“The Brown Bag Campaign represents the fact that children often come into foster care very quickly and suddenly, with their personal items stuffed into brown paper or plastic bags,” said Gina Aranki, communications director of Child and Family Services, in an interview with the Charlevoix Courier. “It’s also a reminder that we need people who have the room in their hearts and homes to become foster and adoptive parents.”

Women like Marsha Gray and her daughter Suzana Gray need not apply.

[Images via Union County Sheriff’s Department]