The family at the center of a massive child engagement case in Ohio, where 16 kids were rescued from what has been dubbed a “house of horrors,” was previously investigated by child services.

Authorities in Vinton County announced charges against Gary Siders Jr., 36, his wife Elizabeth Siders, 33, and his parents Gary Siders Sr., 73, and Christina Siders, 68, in early July after finding the children living in squalor at the family’s home in Hamden.

Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain called it a “disgusting scene,” where the children were kept in a roughly 12-foot by 12-foot area and where there was an “extremely high presence” of human feces.

When a reporter asked whether the children could read and write, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said the children “looked like almost feral animals” and some “couldn’t even speak.”

Now, it has been revealed that child services had investigated the family in the past over concerns that the children weren’t properly educated and weren’t receiving necessary medical exams.

Child services in Gallia County, where the Siders family once lived, opened a probe after an online school reported concerns about some of the children’s education levels, local outlet WBNS reported Tuesday, citing a court filing from March 2020.

One Siders child, who was 11 years old at the time, couldn’t write the entire alphabet, couldn’t speak any of the 26 letter sounds and could only count up to 12, according to teachers from the Ohio Virtual Academy.

A 13-year-old had dropped out of the school after not completing any of the work for a month, according to records.

Records also show the parents did not comply with the school’s requests for their children to have medical exams and speech therapy.

In December 2020, a doctor had also reported concerns to the county that the parents were not taking their children for follow-up appointments, WBNS reported, citing a separate court filing. The doctor reported that the children could have developmental delays from lead poisoning.

A caseworker who went to the home reported seeing roaches, gnats and flies, and said two of the children had bruising and bug bites.

Gallia County Children’s Services allowed the parents to keep custody, but ordered protective supervision of the kids in January 2021. The case was closed in June 2021 after the parents were found to have made significant progress in a court-approved case plan.

Gary Siders Jr., Elizabeth Siders and Christina Siders face 19 child endangerment charges and Gary Siders Sr. faces 16 child endangerment charges in Vinton County.

All of the children were removed from the home, taken to the hospital for evaluation and then into the custody of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.

An attorney for Gary Siders Sr., Dorain Baum, claimed last month that there was food in the house and the utilities were turned on.

“Everyone should take a deep breath and step back because unfortunately, when all this comes out, [what] we’re going to see is a state entity which is criminalizing poverty and little more,” he told local outlet WCMH.

The parents also face sex charges in a separate case, which is what prompted a search of their home that led authorities to their children.

In that case, Gary Siders Jr. and Elizabeth Siders both face two counts of sexual battery and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. The couple’s indictments alleged that between January and September 2022, they engaged in sexual conduct with a minor who was not a member of their immediate family.