At the beginning of this year, California expanded its child labor laws to content creators through the Child Content Creator Rights Act. According to the Government of California's website, this Act states that children who are in 30% of the content made need to have 15% of the minor’s gross earnings in a Coogan (trust fund) account to access when they become an adult. California enacted this law to try to avoid child exploitation, as in the past child actors like Demi Lovato, Macaulay Culkin and Jennette McCurdy were exploited for their talent in Hollywood.
This law has a lot of potential to make a wave throughout the United States. One state that many want it to come to is Utah, the home of many family vloggers. Due to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (more commonly known as Mormons) and their belief in documenting their lives for future generations to learn from, family vlogging has become an outlet for this mission.
A prominent family that many may remember watching while growing up is the Franke Family, otherwise known as “8 Passengers” on YouTube. They were the perfect family and so many people watched them because of their funny sibling content and the amazing family bond they seemed to have. However, a “perfect family” is not always what it seems, and secrets are just waiting to be exposed. The Franke family’s hidden dysfunctionality was finally revealed on Aug. 30, 2023.
When the world saw Ruby Franke get arrested for child abuse on Aug. 30, this raised so many questions: Where was Kevin (the Franke father)? How were the two middle children? How did it get this far? Well, Shari Franke, the eldest child of the Franke family, wrote a memoir that explained everything. From how her parents met, to how she was raised under perfection, when Jodi Hildebrandt joined their family and the aftermath and struggle to reconnect with her family.
In Shari’s memoir, “The House of My Mother,” she starts off with the day her mother — or Ruby as she calls her — gets arrested. She explains how she felt after her neighbors called her with the news and how long the drive felt. This section is titled “Finally,” just like her Instagram story she posted that same day saying the same thing. Finally … her family was going to get the help they needed. Finally… her siblings could be free from the brainwash and abuse. Finally … the world will know the “Truth.”
Her memoir is split into five parts, all retelling a certain aspect of her life and the downfall of her mother’s.
Part One: “The Garden of Earthly Delights”
The first part, titled “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” delves into her childhood and the high expectations she was held to. Shari explains the challenge of meeting those expectations to gain her mother’s approval:
“I was a plant staring toward the sun, contorting myself into unnatural shapes just to catch a ray of her approval,” Shari said.
But it was never enough. Shari reflects on her mother’s parenting philosophy and how Ruby made it apparent that she was Shari’s mother, not her friend.
Part Two: “Ship of Fools”
The second part is about when Shari’s family started up the YouTube channel for the first time. She talks about when her mother started shoving a camera in their faces and learning how to fake being happy, blurring reality and performance. She talks about the fame and money they got after one video went viral, and how her personal school life changed because of the fame from the channel. They would get big brand deals and would be recognized by their van when driving around in Utah. This ultimately changed their lives forever.
Part Three: “The Conjurer”
In “The Conjurer,” Shari introduces Jodi Hildebrant, a life coach they found to help with Chad, Shari’s eldest brother. Ruby falls in love with Jodi’s teachings on “Truth” and distorted thinking, which leads to extreme punishments, like Chad losing his bedroom for seven months and having to sleep on a beanbag. As Jodi's influence grew in the Franke Family, the more brainwashed everyone became. It was not until Shari realized Jodi did not live up to her teachings that she recognized her manipulation.
Part Four: “Mankind Beset by Devils”
This fourth part starts with Jodi moving in because of dreams and “visions” she has been having at night. She moves into Shari’s room as Shari only has two more weeks before she heads off to college. This causes Shari to find comfort with an older gentleman as he seems to be the only one who listens to her feelings. But this relationship is not what she bargained for and she is taken advantage of at her lowest point, all while she is struggling with survivor's guilt as she has an escape now that she is in college. This part focuses on Shari’s realization of what has happened to her family and how she is coping with the trauma.
Part Five: “Fall of the Damned”
“Fall of the Damned,” the final part in Shari’s memoir, is where you start to see Shari stand up for herself and her siblings. She gets calls from her neighbors on updates about the children and how they have been taken out of school and left home alone for days at a time. This part also goes into how the media played a role in her life and how they made her out to be the bad guy for not helping or for just “disappearing.” She concludes with the last chapter called “7 Passengers,” which talks about her life now, one year after her mother's arrest.
Now you may be wondering: Where was their father in all of this? Why did Kevin not stop it? A Hulu docu-series released on Feb. 27 included Shari, Chad, Kevin, neighbors and friends sharing their perspectives. Kevin explains that he believed everything Ruby said. By the time she was caught, he had not seen the kids in over a year and was told they had been possessed by demons. Manipulated by his faith and love for Ruby, he struggled to accept the reality of what had happened with his children. He just wanted his family back.
The docu-series shows unseen clips Ruby had recorded but never used in videos. In those, you see the way she talked to her children “off camera” and the verbal abuse they went through. It also goes deeper into Chad’s perspective and how he felt through his life growing up.
If you chose to watch the docu-series, please be mindful, it includes distressing images of the two youngest children’s conditions when they were found. The show goes more in-depth of their suffering, offering a horrifying look at the abuse they endured.
While I have touched on the book and documentary, they are worth reading and watching. This story is the most devastating reality I have ever read. I think it was particularly hard for me knowing Shari is only a year older than me; she is my age and went through something I could never even fathom. It has changed my perspective on so much. If you decide to read or watch this story, please remember to take breaks.Your mental health matters too.
The Child Content Creator Rights Act goes beyond just the Franke family. The act is suspected to have caused the motivation for a lot of vlogging families to start looking to move outside of California. One content creator is Brittany Xavier, who has been accused of moving because of this new law. She claims the reason for moving to Tennessee was because their rental house has mold in it, so they needed to move sooner than they were planning to, but many viewers believe differently.
Another famous family that has recently made a move is the Labrant family. Known for having a large family and using their children for content, many followers and viewers believe they also moved because of this new law, though the family has come out and said that was not their reason for moving and that it was more about politics.
Laws like the Child Content Creator Rights Act aim to prevent situations like these, but children are still being exploited without understanding what they are consenting to. We need more advocates like Shari Franke fighting against family vlogging and stronger protections to safeguard kids in family vlogging. In the words of Shari Franke, “No child should ever have to earn a parent’s affection.”