During their interview with Megyn Kelly, 19 Kids and Counting‘s Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar said they have been fully cooperative with police since the very beginning of son Josh Duggar’s 2006 investigation. However, according to a new report, that isn’t true.
In another exposé on the family, In Touch reports that the Arkansas Department of Human Services launched an investigation last month, after learning one of the Duggar children may be in danger. On May 27, a representative from the Washington County DHS went to the family’s home around 11 a.m. to check out the situation, but was barred from seeing the minor in question. The DHS employee then called local police for assistance.
In the recorded 911 call, the employee stated “We have an investigation and I guess they’re not being cooperative. We have to see the child to make sure the child is all right. So we just need police assistance.”
In response to the new report, DHS director of communications Amy Webb told Buzzfeed she could not comment on what happened next because “all child maltreatment reports are confidential by law.” Child maltreatment is defined as “abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, sexual exploitation or abandonment by the caretaker of the child” by Arkansas’ DHS web site. An investigation may be prompted by a single anonymous tip.
Although the controversy surrounding the family really isn’t dying down, family members seem to be slowly coming out of hiding. Over the past few days, and for the first time since the news about Josh broke, victims Jill Dillard and Jessa Seewald both posted social media updates.
Despite the brave faces they’re putting on, sources close to the family told People Jill and Jessa are still struggling to cope with everything.
“They just feel horrible that this is now public knowledge, that this is something that the whole world will know about them for the rest of their lives,” one insider said. “This was something that they felt they had closed the door on, and to have it forced open like this….They were just devastated, and they continue to feel devastated.”
Another source said the young women are in “unnecessary pain” because of the release of the information. The insider added, “They feel that their privacy has been violated.”
Although the Duggar family has placed most of the blame for what they’re dealing with on the media, Dr. Gail Wyatt, director of UCLA’s Sexual Health program, said the girls may still have mixed emotions about Josh.
“It’s not a normal childhood experience in that sense, that you can blow it off and assume there won’t be repercussions because of it,” she said. “That Josh apologized is important but does not suggest everything is okay.”
