The eldest daughter of Ruby Franke, the Utah parenting blogger convicted of child abuse in February, is sounding a warning to parents who post photos and videos of their children on blogs.
Franke, a 41-year-old mother of six, and her friend Jodi Hildebrandt, a 54-year-old mother of two, ran a joint parenting and lifestyle YouTube channel called ConneXions Classrooms. In December, both pleaded guilty in a St. George courtroom to four of six counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse inflicted upon two of the Frankes’ children.
“When children become stars in their family’s online content, they become child influencers,” Franke said in a statement before the Utah House of Representatives on Oct. 16. “It is more than just filming your family life and putting it online. It is a full-time job, with employees, business credit cards, managers, and marketing strategies. The difference between family vlogging and a normal business, however, is that the employees are all children. Children, from before they are born to the day they turn 18, have become the stars of family businesses on YouTube, Instagram, and most other social media platforms.”
Prior to ConneXions Classrooms, Franke ran her own parenting vlog, or video blog, on social media called 8Passengers, representing herself, her husband and their eight children.
Shari noted that Utah is a “hotspot for family content” due to the state’s culture surrounding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), noting that the goal of the church is to “share” that culture “with the world.”
“We also have large families, which makes family content more lucrative,” Shari noted. “Specifically, many parents film their regular family life as an online video blog, called vlogging. But I want to be clear that there is NEVER, never a good reason for posting your children online for money or fame.”
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Franke teamed up with Hildebrandt, a formerly licensed therapist, in 2022, and the pair decided to start their own parenting vlog on YouTube, often staying together in Hildebrandt’s multi-million dollar home in St. George with Franke’s children. They also hosted conferences throughout the country aimed at giving parenting advice to those having trouble disciplining their children.
Shari said her mother’s blog became the primary source of income for her household, but sometimes the money that her mother’s vlogging work brought to the table was used as a “bribe.”
“For example, we’d be rewarded $100 or a shopping trip if we filmed a particularly embarrassing moment, or an exciting event,” Shari explained. “Or other times, simply going on vacation was expected to be payment enough—because most kids don’t get to go on regular and expensive vacations or trips. Never mind the fact that the child’s labor is actually what paid for the vacation or trip. There is no law in place to guarantee child influencers get any money from their work.”
She has since been calling on Utah lawmakers to consider implementing certain protections for child influencers.
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In 2023, the two pals and business partners were arrested for abusing Franke’s two youngest children, a 9-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy. Some of the abuse occurred in Hildebrandt’s home.
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The allegations against Franke and Hildebrandt only came to light after Franke’s son fled Hildebrandt’s Ivins home and ran to a neighbor, who called 911 after seeing the malnourished boy with duct tape on his wrists and ankles.
HEAR THE 911 CALL:
“For the past four years, I’ve chosen to follow counsel and guidance that has led me into a dark delusion,” a teary Franke said in a statement during her February sentencing hearing. “My distorted version of reality went largely unchecked as I would isolate from anyone who challenged me. I was led to believe this world was an evil place, filled with cops who control, hospitals that injure, government agencies that brainwash, church leaders who lie and lust, husbands who refuse to protect, children who need abuse.
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“Kevin, my husband of more than 23 years, you are the love of my life. I’m so sorry to leave to you what we both started together,” Franke continued through sobs. “The ending of our marriage is a tragedy, and you are wrapped around my heart in a knot I’ll never be able to undo. To my babies, my six little chicks, you are part of me. I was the momma duck who was consistently waddling you to safety. . . . In the past four years, I was consistently leading you to danger. . . . I was so disoriented that I believed dark was light and right was wrong.”
Franke and Hildebrandt were both sentenced to serve four consecutive terms between one and 15 years each for each charge.
Shari’s comments before the Utah legislature on October 16 came 10 days ahead of the premiere of a Lifetime movie about her mother titled, “Mormon Mom Gone Wrong.”
Shari said on her Instagram story posted on October 4 that she and her siblings had never been contacted about the film and will not receive any proceeds.
“This movie is trash, and only hurts my siblings more. Please do not support this movie,” she wrote at the time.
Simon and Schuster is set to publish Shari’s upcoming book, “The House of My Mother,” on January 7.
