True crime Friday: Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt - The Dangers of Family Blogging

I normally focus on serial killers because they do the most damage to society especially, to women and children. But I also want to focus on another epidemic which is child abuse. Family blogging has become the way some families earn their money. A YouTube channel that brings in over a million subscribers can set a family up monetarily for life. When the controversy comes it is because the parents are using their kids as content. The kids have no say in the matter. Also there are no laws against how long children can work on a YouTube channel so the kids tend to be exploited. The kids have no say in whether they want to be filmed or not and in most cases the parents are in control of the money. There are quite a few of these family bloggers around and as you would guess most of them are despicable in the way they treat their kids. Law enforcement has been called on a number of parents involved in family blogging to investigate the way they are physically and/or mentally abusing their kids. Which brings me to Ruby Franke.

Who is Ruby Franke?

In early 2015, she ran a popular YouTube channel called 8 passengers. She chronicled the lives of her six kids and husband. At the beginning of filming the family videos were fun and seemed lighthearted but soon there was a noticeable change in the content. The attitudes of the children and the parents seemed off and Ruby began to discipline the kids from a dark place. Franke had her 5 year old child making her own lunch to take to school. When Franke’s 5-year-old daughter forgot to bring her lunch to school, the child’s teacher called and asked Ruby to bring the kid a lunch and Franke refused. She stated in the video “Hopefully no one steps in and gives her a lunch,” If they step in then she’s not going to learn from the natural outcome which is she does not get to eat.” She also took her oldest son’s room from him for seven months because he pulled a prank on his brother. The oldest son had to sleep on a bean bag in the living room. Once her youngest son soiled the bed and she made his sleep on the bathroom floor.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Making the children clean the house for hours before they could eat breakfast, lunch or dinner. Threatening to cut the head off of her youngest child doll because she spilled nail polish on the carpet. Having the kids to do sit up in the front yard for not moving fast enough when cleaning up the yard. The neighbors tried to intervene because they felt like the kids would only be removed from the home in body bags! Child Protective Service in the State of Utah, went to visit the home but gave Ruby and Kevin her husband a clean bill of health. After having Change.Org gather a petition to have the channel removed the family stopped providing content. Which brings me to Jodi Hildebrandt.

Who is Jodi Hildebrandt?

Ruby Franke reappeared on another YouTube channel in 2022, with a new business partner/mentor Jodi Hildebrandt. Jodi counseled Ruby oldest son when he was sent to a wilderness camp. She was also Ruby’s and Kevin’s marriage counselor. Jodi advised Kevin to move out of the home. He had not been in contact with his children for over a year. Ruby and her two youngest kids moved in with Jodi. Her two middle kids moved in with a friend of Jodi to help clean their home. The oldest kids were living out of the home. Ruby Franke gave parenting advice on her now-defunct "8 Passengers" YouTube channel, and Hildebrandt, operated a counseling business called ConneXions Classroom. Hildebrandt is a licensed therapist. She lost her licensed in 2007 but regain her licensed in 2011, after it was revoked for sharing HIPPA information with the Mormon Church where her client was a member. She also gave information to Brigham Young University where her former client was employed. This case is very distributing! She ruined her client's marriage, accused him of being a child molester where he lost his job, home, spouse and children. He went to Hildebrandt for help regarding being abused by members of the Boy scouts of America. It also came to light that Hildebrandt abused her children and nieces. It is a long and terrible story and I have provided a link below.

Lady Justice

Ruby youngest son escaped the Hildebrandt, Utah home and ran to a neighbor’s home to get help for himself and his little sister. There is a tape recording of the neighbor feeding the child and crying because of the shape the child was in at the time of escape. The police and ambulance were called and the children where finally rescued. The district attorney stated the children were living in a concentration camp-like setting and said that Franke "committed horrible acts of child abuse." While addressing Hildebrandt's charges, Clarke called her a "significant threat" to the community. Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were sentenced up to 60 years for felony child abuse.

Reference

Son of Utah woman who gave online parenting advice says therapist tied him up with ropes | AP News

YouTuber Ruby Franke Of 8 Passengers Child Abuse Explained (buzzfeednews.com)

YouTuber Ruby Franke’s Eldest Son Is Seemingly Thrilled About Her Imprisonment After She Was Officially Sentenced For Felony Child Abuse This Week (msn.com)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ruby-franke-jodi-hildebrandt-sentenced-child-abuse-youtube-eight-passengers/#:~:text=Franke%20has%20been%20sentenced%20to,days%20to%20appeal%20the%20decision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Franke

Jodi Hildebrandt Pleaded Guilty to Child Abuse (today.com)

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