The discovery of 16 children living in deplorable conditions in rural Ohio has left people wondering why the life-threatening squalor wasn’t detected earlier.

Authorities say 16 children from the same family who were rescued from a run-down home in rural Ohio were living in horrific conditions and were confined to just one room over much of the past four years.

Last year, U.S. Jesuits announced a racial reconciliation initiative in partnership with descendants of people once enslaved by the Catholic order.