Confined children

"I was never allowed to meet other humans and was hidden away if anyone would approach." Read Kitty's story here

We can hope that most cases of wild and isolated children came about through accident or misadventure, but unfortunately in these cases of confined children, other humans were undoubtedly the cause of their neglect and abuse.

Genie, a modern-day Wild Child

Regrettably, confined children are not consigned to history. Cases still appear regularly in the news today. Although it's not possible to list them all here, I have featured those that well known or of particular interest. Of course, the best-known is "Genie".

Kaspar Hauser

Many people will be familiar with the case of the confined child from Germany, Kaspar Hauser. His identity, and those of his captor and murderer are still shrouded in mystery.

Kaspar Hauser is the oldest case on this list. In older societies, when people lived in closer proximity and more crowded conditions, it would have been difficult or impossible for most people to confine a child in this way.

Deprived of social contact

Children have been kept in confinement in cellars, dog kennels, pigsties and even hen houses. In these conditions of deprivation, they've been unable to experience normal influences during their formative years, with an often profound effect on their development.

Dog-children

Some of the children in this list did spend time in the company of animals, usually dogs but also pigs and hens. Sometimes this is because the children were confined in a kennel, yard or even apartment where the animals lived. However, it would be stretching a point to claim that the child was brought up by the animals.

Language acquisition

Most of the children in this list were denied the opportunity to learn to speak while they were in captivity. Their stories can therefore usually be found in textbooks concerning language development, such as the excellent Language Development in Exceptional Circumstances.

The camera symbol indicates there is a picture of the child.
A source document or eyewitness account is reproduced here.
There is extensive information for the children shown in bold.
Click on the child's name to read more about that child.

**Feral children confined with limited or aberrant human contact**
Name	Sex	Location	Date found	Age when found
Natasha Mikhailova	F	Chita, Russia	2009	5
Madina	F	Ufa, Russia	2009	3
Jason Lopez	M	López Arellano, Honduras	2008	9
Russian Bird-Boy	M	Kirovsky, Volgograd, Russia	2008	7
Anja W	F	Bayersried, Germany	2007	7
Houston Attic-Boy	M	Houston, Texas, USA	2007	13
Ahmed Yassine	M	Maroc	2006	6
Rios Children	F	Carson City, Nevada, USA	2006	16
The Linz sisters	F	Linz, Austria	2005	19
Gravelle children	M	Wakeman, Ohio, USA	2005	1
Ramzia Tukmatullina	F	Kazan, Russian Federation	2005	14
Starved Jessica	F	Hamburg, Deutschland	2005	7
Danielle Crockett	F	Plant City, FL, USA	2005	6
The Jacksonville Boy	M	Jacksonville, Florida, USA	2005	17
Annapurna Sahu	F	Orissa, India	2005	43
The Majola children	F	Free State, South Africa	2004	26
The Rodriguez twins	M	Phoenix, AZ, USA	2003	5
Prateep Chumnoon	M	Thailand	2003	1
Marta	F	Stare Babice, Polska	2003	6
Jeffrey Baldwin	M	Toronto, Canada	2002	6
Anna Sydney	F	Sydney, Australia	2002	18
Edik	M	Mirny, Ukraine	1999	4
Betty Topper	F	Norco, CA, USA	1999	6
Victoria Barr	F	Austin, Texas, USA	1997	9
The Naderi twins	F	Iran	1997	12
Girl Two	F	Caerphilly, Wales	1996	3
Oxana Malaya	F	Novaya Blagoveshchenka, Ukraine	1991	8
Dominique	F	Canada	1982	5
Isabel Quaresma	F	Tabua, Portugal	1980	9
Sujit Kumar	M	Fiji	1979	8
Adam	M	Colombia	1973	1
Mary	F	UK	1973	2
Louise	F	UK	1973	3
The Koluchova twins	M	Ceská Republika	1972	12
Genie	F	California, USA	1970	13
Yves Cheneau	M	Saint-Brévin, France	1963	7
Kevin Halfpenny	M	County Down, Northern Ireland, UK	1956	7
Isabelle	F	Ohio, USA	1938	6
Anna	F	Pennsylvania, USA	1938	6
Charlotte Deconinck	F	Ghent, Belgique	1897	7
Sow-girl	F	Salzburg, Oesterreich	?	22
Kaspar Hauser	M	Nuremberg, Deutschland	1828	17