CLEVELAND -- The white parents of 11 special-needs adoptive children, all black and some sleeping in cages, went to court six years ago to make it easier for white couples to adopt minority youngsters.

Court documents in Cincinnati show that Michael and Sharen Gravelle joined a 1999 lawsuit against Hamilton County complaining about resistance to allowing white couples adopt black children. The Gravelles are white and their 11 adopted children are black.

According to the lawsuit, the Gravelles adopted two children in Hamilton County, both siblings of a third child adopted elsewhere by the Gravelles. The lawsuit claimed an adoption supervisor objected to giving the youngsters names that didn't reflect their African heritage.

Laurie Petrie, a spokeswoman with the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services, confirmed two adoptions in the county by the couple. She said Friday that confidentiality rules barred the agency from disclosing details.

The Gravelles were dropped from the lawsuit in 2002 because they weren't cooperating and no one could reach them, according to documents in the case.

The Wakeman couple has not been charged. The Huron County prosecutor filed 11 non-criminal complaints of child abuse and neglect Monday to get the children into foster care. A hearing has been set for Oct. 27, and a judge will decide if the children should be permanently removed from the home or returned.

Laurie Oney, who lives about a mile from the Gravelles' northeast Ohio home, told The (Lorain) Morning Journal that she filed complaints with the Huron County Department of Job and Family Services in 2001 and 2002. The agency has said it had not heard of the parents until last week.

The complaints alleged that the Gravelles used broomsticks to harshly spank the children and Sharen Gravelle ridiculed a child as a "bed-wetter" and forced him to hang his soiled linens on a line outside.

The Gravelles' attorney, David Sherman, said Friday he would not comment at this time on Oney's remarks.

Oney could not be reached for further comment Friday. Messages seeking comment were left at her home phone.

There was no immediate comment from the agency, which said earlier it didn't handle the adoptions and had no contact with the family until a court-ordered home search last week. Messages were left at the agency Friday.

The Gravelles, in a statement issued on their behalf by their attorney Wednesday night, denied harming their children and said the "enclosures" in their home were meant to give the children a secure place while the parents slept at night.

The children, ages 1 to 14, have various ailments including fetal alcohol syndrome, Down syndrome, HIV and autism. The children harmed themselves and each other, set fires, ate batteries and pulled out their hair, the statement from the parents said.