Franke, a 41-year-old mother of six, and her friend Jodi Hildebrandt, a 54-year-old mother of two, operated the joint. Parenting and lifestyle YouTube channel It’s called the Connection Classroom. In December, both men pleaded guilty in a St. George courtroom to four of six counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse inflicted on two of the Franks children.
“When children become the stars of their family’s online content, they become the people who influence them,” Franke said in a statement Oct. 16 in the Utah House of Representatives. “It’s more than just filming your family’s life and putting it online. But the difference between a family video blog and a regular business is that your employees are children from before they’re born until the day they’re 18 years old. They have become stars of their family business on YouTube, Instagram, and most other social media platforms.”
Before founding ConneXions Classrooms, Ms. Franke ran a parenting vlog, or video blog, on social media called 8Passengers, representing herself, her husband, and their eight children.
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Blogger Ruby Franke has pleaded guilty to child abuse in Utah. (instagram/moms_of_truth)
Shari noted that Utah is a “hot spot for family content” because of the culture surrounding The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and the church’s goal is to “share that culture with the world.” He pointed out that. ”
”[T]There is never a good reason to expose your children online for money or fame. ”
“We also have large families, so family content is more lucrative,” Shari said. “Specifically, many parents film their everyday family life as online video blogs, also known as vlogs. However, there is never a legitimate reason to post your children online for money or fame. And I want to make it clear that this is by no means a valid reason.”
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Ruby Franke runs a YouTube page called ConneXions with Jodi Hildebrandt, which aims to teach her approximately 4,650 followers how to “navigate life.” (instagram/moms_of_truth)
Franke decided to team up with Hildebrandt, a former therapist, in 2022 to start her own parenting vlog on YouTube, with Franke’s children in Hildebrandt’s multimillion-dollar home in St. George. often stayed with. He also hosted conferences around the country aimed at providing parenting advice to people who were having trouble disciplining their children.
“There is no such thing as a moral or ethical family vlogger.”
Shari said her mother’s blog became the main source of income for the family, but the money brought in by her mother’s video blogging work was sometimes used as “bribes.”
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Parenting blogger Jodi Hildebrandt has pleaded guilty to four of six counts of aggravated child abuse related to physical and emotional harm to her co-host’s two children. (Sheldon Demke/St. George News/Pool)
“For example, if you photograph a particularly embarrassing moment or an exciting event, you will be rewarded with $100 or a shopping trip,” Shari explained. “Alternatively, there was an expectation that simply going on vacation would be enough compensation, because most children cannot afford to go on regular, expensive vacations and trips.” Never mind the fact that the child’s labor paid for the trip. There is no law that guarantees that child influencers earn money from their work.
She has since called on the Utah Legislature to consider putting in place certain protections for child influencers.
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Franke’s neighbors told Fox News Digital that most families in the area knew that Franke had a YouTube channel called 8Passengers. When she and Hildebrand started another vlog on Facebook called “Moms of Truth”/ConneXions, “several” neighbors were “very concerned” about its content, the neighbor said. . (True Moms/Instagram)
In 2023, a friend and business partner were arrested for abusing Franke’s two youngest children, a 9-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy. Some of the abuse occurred at Hildebrandt’s home.
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The charges against Franke and Hildebrandt were filed after Franke’s son ran away from Hildebrandt’s Yvin home and alerted neighbors after seeing the malnourished boy with duct tape on his wrists and ankles. It came to light for the first time.
Listen to the 911 call:
“For the past four years, I have chosen to follow advice and guidance that has led me into dark delusions,” Franke tearfully said during her sentencing hearing in February. “My distorted reality went largely unchecked as it isolated me from those who challenged me. I believed that this world was made up of police that controlled, hospitals that hurt people, government agencies that brainwashed, and church leaders that lie. I was led to believe that it was an evil place, filled with greed, unwilling husbands, and abusive children.
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“My husband of over 23 years, Kevin, you are the love of my life, and I am so sorry to leave you with what we started together,” Franke continued through tears. “The end of our marriage is a tragedy, and you are tied in a knot around my heart that I will never be able to untie. To my babies, my six chicks, you are my I’ve been a duck mom for the past four years, and I’ve always been leading you into danger.
Ruby Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested and charged after Santa Clara police received a dispatch call for help. (instagram/moms_of_truth)
Both Mr. Franke and Mr. Hildebrandt were sentenced to four consecutive terms of imprisonment of one to 15 years on each charge.
Shari’s comments at the Utah State House on Oct. 16 came 10 days before the premiere of “Mormon Mom Was Wrong,” a Lifetime movie about her mother.
Shari said in her Instagram Story posted on October 4 that she and her siblings have not been contacted about the film and will not receive any proceeds from it.
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“This movie is crap and will only hurt my brothers even more. Please do not support this movie,” she wrote at the time.
Simon and Schuster will publish Shari’s upcoming book, The House of My Mother, on January 7th.
