Ruby Franke was arrested in August 2023. Sentenced to four to thirty years in February 2024. The performance that defined her children's lives was over.

Part 5 of "The Good Mother" examines where the Franke children are now — and the psychology of recovery after narcissistic family abuse.

Shari Franke, 22, published "The House of My Mother" in January 2025. She testified before the Utah Senate on child influencer exploitation. She appeared in the Hulu documentary "Devil in the Family." She's building a life on her own terms.

Chad Franke, 20, processes publicly. He reads his 2023 diaries on TikTok — entries written while under Jodi Hildebrandt's influence. He calls it being "brainwashed." Ruby writes him letters from prison. He doesn't respond.

Kevin Franke divorced Ruby in March 2025 and remarried in December 2025. He says he still loves Ruby — but is "as angry as can be." He blocked communication from Ruby to himself and the children.

The four minor children — Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve — heal privately. Their faces are blurred in all documentaries. For the first time in their lives, they are not content.

Ruby sits in Utah State Correctional Facility alongside Jodi Hildebrandt. Her first parole hearing is scheduled for December 2026. According to documentaries, she has begun distancing herself from Jodi in prison.

Recovery after escape isn't a straight line. Getting out is just the beginning. The work is figuring out which thoughts are yours and which were installed by someone else.

Ruby's children are still here. Still growing. Still becoming whoever they decide to be.

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CPS visited the Franke home in 2020 after viewers reported concerns about 8 Passengers. They investigated. They closed the case.

Three years later, Russell and Eve Franke were found bound and starving in Jodi Hildebrandt's house.

Part 4 of "The Good Mother" examines why child protective services failed to intervene despite years of visible warning signs.

The abuse wasn't hidden. Ruby posted five videos a week for 2.5 million subscribers. Chad sleeping on a beanbag for seven months was on camera. A six-year-old denied lunch was on camera. Public humiliation was content.

Viewers reported. A Change.org petition was launched. Ruby's own family — her parents Chad and Jennifer Griffiths, her brother Beau, her sisters Ellie, Julie, and Bonnie — all tried to intervene after Jodi entered the picture. All were cut off.

Shari posted one word when Ruby was arrested: "Finally."

She elaborated: "We've been trying to tell police and CPS for years."

Kevin Franke has since advocated for stricter child welfare legislation, addressing Utah's Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel in July 2024 about closing loopholes that prevented intervention.

This episode examines why systems fail. CPS is overwhelmed. The threshold for intervention is physical evidence of severe harm. The Frankes performed normalcy for investigators — educated, affluent, religious, well-connected.

By the time CPS showed up, everything probably looked fine. The children had been trained to perform.

If you reported something and nothing happened, that doesn't mean you were wrong. Keep seeing. Keep reporting. Sometimes a report is the one that matters.

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8 Passengers had a billion views. The Franke children were filmed from birth. Five videos a week for eight years. Milestones, punishments, humiliations — all content.

Part 3 of "The Good Mother" examines the family vlogging industry through the Franke case: what happens when childhood becomes content, when children become products, when the algorithm rewards access to their worst moments.

Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, Eve — all raised on camera. Paid ten dollars per video. Given family vacations as compensation — vacations funded by their own labor.

Shari testified before the Utah Senate in October 2024. Her statement: "There is never, ever a good reason for posting your children online for money or fame. There is no such thing as a moral or ethical family vlogger."

Then: "Family vlogging ruined my innocence long before Ruby committed a crime."

Kevin Franke watched raw footage from 8 Passengers while making the Hulu documentary "Devil in the Family." His assessment: "There will not be a single family content creator who watches that and does not cringe. Because that is representative of every single one of them."

The content that performed best was conflict. Punishment. Drama. The algorithm rewarded cruelty.

Utah is now considering legislation requiring parents who earn $150,000+ from content featuring their children to set aside fifteen percent in trust. California and Illinois have similar laws.

The four minor Franke children now have their faces blurred in all documentaries — a protection they never had while being monetized.

This episode examines the economics and psychology of family vlogging — why children cannot consent to having their childhood made public, and what the Franke case reveals about an entire industry.

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