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Genie is a name used for a feral child discovered by California authorities on November 4 1970 in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia. Her real name remains classified. She was born in April of 1957 and was the fourth (and second surviving) child to unstable parents. Her mother was partially blind due to cataracts and a detached retina, and her father (who was 20 years the mother's senior) was mentally unbalanced on account of a depression over his mother's death from a hit-and-run accident.

At the age of 20 months, Genie was just beginning to learn how to speak when a doctor told her family that she seemed a little bit slow, possibly mildly retarded. Her father took the opinion into extreme, believing that she was profoundly retarded and subjected her to severe confinement and ritual ill-treatment; this was his idea of "protecting" her.

Genie had spent her life locked in her bedroom. During the day, she was tied to a potty chair in diapers; and most nights, she was then bound in a sleeping bag and placed in an enclosed crib with a metal lid to keep her shut inside. Her father would beat her every time she vocalized and he barked and growled at her like a dog in order to keep her quiet; he also forbade his wife and son to ever speak to her. On account of these three actions, she became almost entirely silent. She only knew a few words, such as "stopit" and "nomore."

Rescue

Genie was discovered at the age of 13. Her discovery was made when her mother ran away from her husband and took her with her. They came into a welfare office in Temple City, California to seek benefits for the blind. A social worker discovered them and thought that Genie was six or seven years old and possibly autistic. When it was revealed that she was actually 13 going on 14, the social worker immediately called her supervisor, who called the police. Her parents were charged with child abuse, and Genie was taken to a Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. Genie's mother, weak and almost blind, claimed she was herself a victim of abuse from Genie's father. The father shot himself to death shortly after Genie's discovery.

When released for the first time, Genie developed a strange "bunny walk," held her hands up in front of her like paws, and constantly sniffed and spat and clawed. She was almost entirely silent. In spite of her condition, hospital staff hoped they could nurture her to normality. When interest in the case widened, Genie became an unofficial science program to find out if there was a critical age threshold for language acquisition. Within a few months she had advanced to one-word answers and had learned to dress herself. Her doctors predicted complete success. They even screened François Truffaut's movie The Wild Child for ideas. Psychologist James Kent became her surrogate parent.

The First Foster Home

One year later, Genie developed a rash. Her teacher Jean Butler, who passed in 1988, claimed it was German measles; and as a quarantine measure, she was moved to her home. This claim was later falsified. Butler's personal journal recorded concern that Genie was taxed too greatly with the Genie team and experiments; however Butler didn't hide that she thought Genie would make her famous. Her true intentions can never be known, but many members of the Genie team felt genuine affection for Genie and an overwhelming desire to "rescue" her. Butler became Genie's new foster parent and kept her away from the other members of the Genie team. Genie began to hoard things in her room. When Butler applied to be Genie's official foster parent, she was rejected.

The Second Foster Home

Genie returned to the Children's Hospital and was handed over to a new foster parent, therapist David Rigler. His wife Marilyn became Genie's new teacher. Marilyn found the need to teach Genie unconventional lessons, for example in anger management. Genie would go into a fit of rage and act out against herself, so Marilyn taught Genie to "rage" through jumping, slamming doors, stomping her feet and generally "having a fit." Marilyn notes that Genie had a stronger command on vocabulary than children aquiring language. During this period Genie was even able to discuss her years of abuse:

MARILYN RIGLER: Where did you stay when you lived at home? Where did you live? Where did you sleep?

GENIE: Potty chair.

MARILYN RIGLER: You slept in the potty chair?

GENIE: Mmm-hmm. Potty chair.

(NOVA)

She stayed with the Rigler family for the next four years. During that period she began to learn some language, and the Riglers arranged for her to learn sign language. She also learned to smile. If she could not create a sentence, she would try to communicate by drawing a picture.

Loss of Funds and Interest

However, the National Institute of Mental Health, which had funded the project, grew concerned about the lack of scientific research data. In 1974 the Institute cut off funding. The following year the Riglers decided to discontinue their foster parenting. Genie had not yet learned full grammatical English and only went so far as phrases like "Applesauce buy store."

Back Home...then to more foster homes and more abuse

In 1975, Genie was returned to custody of her mother, who had been acquitted of child abuse charges and wished to care for her daughter. After a few months the mother found that taking care of Genie was too difficult, and Genie was transferred to a succession of six foster homes. In some of those foster homes she was physically abused, punished–on one occasion severely for vomiting–and harassed and her development regressed severely, returning to her coping mechanism of silence and in addition a fear of opening her mouth.

The original research team heard nothing more about Genie until her mother sued them for excessive and outrageous testing and claimed the researchers gave testing priority over Genie's welfare, pushing her beyond the limits of her endurance. The case was eventually settled.

Genie now lives in a sheltered accommodation in an undisclosed location in Southern California; it is at least her sixth adult foster home. Her mother passed away ca. 2002-2003. As far as references go, her older brother is also still alive today.

An independent film entitled Mockingbird Don't Sing is based on Genie's life.

References

• Curtiss, Susan (ed, 1977) Genie: Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-day "Wild Child". London: Academic Press Inc. (ISBN 0121963500)

• Rymer, Russ (1994) Genie: a Scientific Tragedy. London: HarperPerennial. (ISBN 0060924659)

External links

• Secret of the Wild Child - NOVA document transcript

• 1957 births
• Famous patients
• Feral children