Disney’s Devil in the Family: Where are Ruby Franke’s children now?

TW: Child Abuse

Disney Plus gave us yet another chilling documentary, Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke.

The limited series followed the life of Ruby Franke, a family vlogger, who garnered global attention after it was revealed she had been abusing her children.

Her six children often featured in her videos, and many people thought they lived a picture perfect life, but when one of her children was found by a neighbour emaciated and with duct-taped wrists, this proved not to be the case.

Ruby was later convicted of four counts of aggravated child abuse, and is facing up to 30 years in prison.

Two of her children, Shari and Chad, featured in the documentary, along with her husband Kevin, talking about their mother and lives behind the camera.

However, many people have been left wondering what happened to the children after Ruby Franke’s arrest. Who has custody of the youngest children? And where are they now?

Well, let’s have a look into where Ruby Franke’s six children are now.

Shari

Shari is the first-born of the Franke children. She is now a best-selling author, and works to stop family vlogging.

Her book, The House of My Mother, reached number one on the New York Times’ non-fiction best seller list, and is an open and honest account of her “quest for freedom”.

Shari has also been working with lawmakers to draft a bill in Utah which would aim to protect child influencers.

In an Instagram post, she said: “This bill would require parents to create a trust fund for their children, and require parents to pay children a minimum amount. It would also allow children influencers, at 18, to have any content they appeared in to be removed from all social media platforms.

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“I am aware of many specific family vloggers and lobbyists in Utah who are ACTIVELY fighting for this bill to not pass. If family vlogging is as good as ‘ethical’ family vloggers want you to think, they should not fear being mandated to pay their children (because they say the children are already being paid anyway). And if children are supposedly consenting to being filmed, why fear the kids would want content removed once 18?”

Shari lives a private life but has revealed that she in engaged. In the documentary, she also explained she does not talk to her mother, and refuses to call her by anything except “Ruby”.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Shari also revealed that her and her dad are working on rebuilding their relationship, saying: “He doesn’t defend or explain involving us in family vlogging, he takes full responsibility.

“To me, we still have our disagreements, but the fact that he’s trying is what’s most important to me.”

Chad

The family’s second-born child, and first son Chad is now working as a realtor and video creator. He has amassed 349,000 followers on Instagram and posts a lot of funny content on socials with his girlfriend.

Chad spoke openly about his family in the documentary, saying how he was often included in videos as he gained the most attention from viewers. He also spoke out about how he was ostracised from the family whilst he was in high school.

The 20-year-old has shared lots of travelling content, including skiing pics and photos with friends in San Juan.

Furthermore he recently had to speak out after people accused him of being “brainwashed” for saying he still loved his mom.

On an Instagram Story showing his cat, Walter’s, litter box, he said: “To all the people saying my dad and I are still brainwashed for loving another human being, eat Walter’s shit.”

He also admitted his mom used to send him letters from prison but that he wouldn’t respond. He said the letters then stopped coming, telling Today: “I think her not getting a response back was a sign to her that I’m not interested in talking right now.”

Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve

Ruby, Kevin, and their children via Disney Plus

Ruby’s four youngest children were placed into protective custody following their mother’s arrest.

The two youngest, as can been seen in the documentary, were found emaciated and showing signs of abuse. Russell was also shown to have been bound with duct tape.

In 2024, the case’s lead prosector Eric Clarke gave an update on the two youngest children. According to Biography, he said: “I think people should know that the kids have put on weight. They’re interacting, happy and healthy.

“It’s not like they’re great, but they’re light-years better. And thank heavens for that.”

In February 2024, their dad and Ruby’s husband Kevin filed for guardianship of Abby, who was 16 at the time.

Kevin also sought custody of the other three younger children. However, a court order sealed all the information from the public, so it is not publicly known whether he has custody of them or not.

Despite this, last month, two of the four younger children had a statement read out by their dad at a House Business, Labour, and Commerce Committee hearing in Utah. The bill being discussed was one that would require parent creators who generate income off of their children to put a percentage of the content’s earnings into a trust fund.

According to E News, the first child’s statement said: “As kids, you don’t realise what you’re subjected to. You’re selling your life, your privacy, your body and stories to the entire world. And as a child, you’re involuntarily giving up all of that. You’re selling your childhood.”

The other child’s statement then read: “I felt ‘happy’, but I really wasn’t. I worked hard for that money. I acted like someone I wasn’t in front of the camera, and I earned that money. But I feel like my mom used me for money.”

Featured image via Disney Plus and Instagram