A Barnesville couple whose three young grandchildren were taken into placement by Schuylkill County’s Children and Youth Services agency on Wednesday asked commissioners for help in getting them back, allowing more visits, or at least getting the agency to talk to them.

Commissioners said the matter was not under their control, but said they would meet with agency director Lisa Stevens to make sure the lines of communication were open and that the agency was looking into allegations that one of the children, a 6-year-old with Down syndrome, was not being properly cared for by his foster parents.Anna M. Funk and Drew B. Zelonis were accompanied by family and friends as they made their at times tearful pleas at a public commissioners’ meeting.Stevens, who attended the meeting with two caseworkers, declined to comment due to confidentiality. She did say the agency would look into having others care for the children, who are 6, 3 and 2.Funk told commissioners her daughter, the children’s mother, was in the county jail. For most of their lives she and the children lived with Funk and Zelonis, who is a former district judge. Funk said the agency considered her a “protective grandmother,” meaning she would be the children’s primary caregiver in the event they could not be with their mother.In January, the children and their mother moved to Tamaqua. Funk and Zelonis still had them four times a week, Funk said.On June 29, the daughter was arrested and jailed, and the agency took the children, who were placed in separate foster homes. The agency told the judge who handled the situation there were “no appropriate resources” to care for the children, so foster care was necessary, Funk said.Funk approached Commissioner Gary J. Hess, who arranged a conference call with the agency, and she was finally allowed to see the children on Aug. 12 for a half-hour visit.Just before the children’s mother was arrested, she had taken them to visit their father, who is on house arrest in West Penn Township. There was no order barring the children from visiting their father. The father, who was not involved in the children’s lives, now has two-hour visits with them, Funk said.Funk said she subsequently learned her daughter had failed 28 drug tests after moving to Tamaqua.Funk and Zelonis said they have tried to get answers from the agency as to why they are not being allowed to continue to care for the children, but their phone calls are ignored.Zelonis, who is also a lawyer, said the family is baffled that “reunification is being totally overlooked.”Funk suggested the agency is keeping them apart from their grandchildren because she confronted a caseworker when they were removed.“I stepped on her toes,” Funk said.“One caseworker’s anger” triggered the separation from Funk and Zelonis, said family friend Karen Opet.Funk said the 6-year-old needs breathing treatments, and that although she gave the agency the equipment on June 30, he didn’t get his treatments until July 20, and ended up in the emergency room.She said on her recent visit, the boy had lost a significant amount of weight and had gray circles around his eyes.“They are not taking care of him,” Funk said.Her daughter had gotten documents concerning possible abuse of the boy, but as of Wednesday the agency had not given her any more information, Funk said.Zelonis said the abuse allegations “scare the heck out of us. Nobody’s giving us any answers.”Commissioners’ Chairman Frank J. Staudenmeier said the board took the family’s situation “very seriously.” He said commissioners “were not at liberty” to discuss details of the situation because of confidentiality laws. Also, the matter was not within commissioners’ jurisdiction, he said.Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. said the agency must sometimes make the tough decision to remove children for their own safety.“You guys are in my prayers,” he said.