Created: 01/16/2014 5:51 PM
By: Ashley McElroy, KOB Eyewitness News 4

Two Farmington parents have had their their kids removed from their home.

Police say their house was filthy, and one of the children came to school with something gross on his jacket.

70-year-old Rodney McKinney and his 34-year-old wife Melody say an empty house isn't normal for them.

"I miss them a lot, and it can get stressful at times but other times I’m giving it to God so it’s difficult," said Melody.

Their three children, two girls and a boy, have been taken into protective custody while they're investigated for child abuse.

In December, police were sent over to the home to do a welfare check after their son's teacher reported he came to school with feces on his jacket.

Police say when they went to the family home, they found so much fecal matter and trash inside it was difficult to walk around, but the parents say, it's not as bad as the police make it sound.

"One of the police come in here, when they had their warrants and she said that this was the most filthiest dirtiest house she had ever been and sat right there, police shouldn’t be saying that stuff," said Rodney McKinney.

During an interview police did with the kids, they reported the son---the youngest child--- would occasionally be locked in a back room, sometimes for several days.

The parents say that's not true. 

"I think it’s wrong, they say I locked him in his room, or we did, in the room with the door locked, he lied and said it was 30 days, he wasn’t in there no 30 days."

The couple says they've been getting help from their church to pay their bills. He’s retired and she's unemployed.  They hope they can make charges so that they can get their kids back.

Both parents have hearings at the end of the month.