Mike Martin, the owner of the YouTube channel DaddyOFive, has reportedly lost custody of two of his five children to their biological mother following child abuse allegations levelled at him and his wife, Heather Martin.
The Martin family was placed under the microscope over a series of “prank” videos that were uploaded to the DaddyOFive YouTube channel, which depicted Mike and Heather shouting expletives at their children, encouraging the siblings to bully one another and reduced their youngest kids to tears on several occasions. Rose Hall, the biological mother of Emma and Cody Martin, has appeared in a video alongside her lawyer, Tim Conlon, describing the events that have taken place since the outrage over the DaddyOFive footage, claiming that she now has emergency custody over the two young kids.
Emergency custody occurs when “a minor … is exposed to substantial risk of bodily injury or sexual abuse or neglect,” according to US Legal. Emergency custody can only be granted if “it is shown that irreparable harm will occur to the child unless the court takes immediate action and grants the emergency motion.” Emergency custody is predominantly temporary, pending further case review by the court and an investigation by a child custody evaluator.
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Mike and Heather previously appeared in an interview with Good Morning America, in which it was revealed that police were investigating the family over the child abuse allegations. The couple have insisted that the children were not harmed during the videos, and that much of their content was “staged” or “fake,” but have stated that they will be moving away from uploading prank videos in the future. Now Rose has claimed that Emma and Cody, who were frequent targets of Mike and Heather’s disturbing prank videos, have been placed in her custody until further notice.
Philip DeFranco, who was the first major YouTuber to flag the DaddyOFive channel, took to Twitter to “confirm” this latest development:
https://twitter.com/PhillyD/status/859126650943840256
Discussing her reaction to DaddyOFive’s videos, Rose said: “It was very heartbreaking and disturbing to see my kids being abused.” Her lawyer then added that Rose “went with law enforcement to rescue the children,” claiming that Cody struggled with returning to his birth mother as a result of comments allegedly made by Mike and Heather. “He said some things that were disturbing,” Rose continued. “That he hated me and that Mike and Heather told him that I threw him away like he was garbage and I just didn’t love him no more.” There is no word yet on what will happen with Martin’s three other children, with Mike and Heather having remained silent over social media over the past two weeks as the debate surrounding their channel continues.
Watch the video below:
Featured Image: DaddyOFive / YouTube.
A Summary of The DaddyOFive Controversy So Far:
DaddyOFive Controversy
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DaddyOFive Controversy #1
YouTube channel DaddyOFive, run by husband and wife Mike and Heather Martin, was placed under the spotlight by prominent YouTuber Philip DeFranco, who pointed out the couple's disturbing treatment of their children in their family "prank" videos."
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DaddyOFive Controversy #2
The story was picked up by many major news outlets, as footage of the Martin's mistreatment of their children shocked the internet. Mike and Heather released a video claiming that much of this footage was "fake" and had been "staged," with the children allegedly orchestrating the pranks themselves.
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DaddyOFive Controversy #3
With the internet not quite believing Mike and Heather's claims, they uploaded another video in which they issued an apology to their fans, asserting that they were not guilty of child abuse as footage of their behavior continued to be shared online. They promptly made every video on their channel private.
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DaddyOFive Controversy #4
They then appeared in an interview on Good Morning America, in which they continued to argue against claims that they had abused their children. The interviewer revealed that a police investigation into the family was underway.
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DaddyOFive Controversy #5
On May 1, the biological mother of two of Mike Martin's children, Rose Hall, appeared in a video alongside her lawyer in which she claimed that she had been granted emergency custody of Emma and Cody. It is currently uncertain if any action has been taken with Mike and Heather's three children.
