Genie

The unfortunate story of a little girl who never had a chance

When Genie was approximately 20 months old, her father began keeping her in a locked room. During this period, he almost always strapped her into a child’s toilet or bound her in a crib with her arms and legs immobilized, forbade anyone from interacting with her, provided her with almost no stimulation of any kind, and left her severely malnourished. The extent of her isolation prevented her from being exposed to any significant amount of speech, and she did not acquire language during her childhood as a result.

Her abuse came to the attention of Los Angeles child welfare authorities in November 1970, when she was 13 years and 7 months old.

Family Background

Genie was the last (and second surviving) of four children born to parents living in Arcadia, California. Her father worked in a factory as a flight mechanic during World War II and continued in aviation afterward, and her mother, who was around 20 years younger and from an Oklahoma farming family, had come to southern California as a teenager with family friends fleeing the Dust Bowl.

During her early childhood, Genie’s mother sustained a severe head injury in an accident, giving her lingering neurological damage that caused degenerative vision problems in one…