And Action News has learned this is not the first or second, but the third time children have been removed from the household. Three sets of children, 12 in all, ranging in age now from 5 to 26.
The police say they found a house of horrors on Bethel Avenue in Upper Chichester.
They were called there by county case workers, who were being blocked form visiting two children.
They found a house strewn with trash and animal waste and carpeting that stuck to their feet.
The two little girls living in the house, ages 5 and 7, were taken into protective custody.
Their parents, 46-year-old Carole and 47-year-old Vincent McDonald, were hauled off to jail.
And the house was shut down.
This is the third time the McDonalds have been arrested for endangering the welfare of children.
Court records tell the story.
In 2000, four children were removed from the household. In 2003, six more children were taken from the McDonalds. All ten were placed in foster care.
Since then, the McDonalds have had two more children. Now they, too, have been taken into protective custody.
One of the original children, now 23 years old, tells me he's too embarrassed and disgusted with his parents to talk on camera.
He says his childhood was a living hell.
He and his older sisters are hoping to provide a better childhood for the two little girls taken from the McDonalds this week.
The girls were starving when the caseworkers and police rescued them.
The McDonalds are being held on $50,000 bail each. Both have lengthy criminal records for theft and forgery.
Three of their older children will be going to the county Friday to try to get custody of their youngest sisters.
