Five of Jennifer and Sarah Hart's six children were so small in 2013 that their weights and heights were not listed on growth charts for children their age, child welfare records released Monday show. 
 
 Yet Oregon's child protective agency determined there was no conclusive evidence of abuse or neglect in their West Linn home and closed its investigation into the family after five months. 
 
 The doctor who measured the children reported no causes for concern despite the children's sizes because she didn't have records of their previous sizes. Her opinion weighed heavily in the Department of Human Services' decision. At least two women who knew the family told case workers they witnessed the Harts withholding food and harshly punishing the children, and a Minnesota official who investigated the family said the mothers knew how to blame apparent red flags on their adopted children. 
 
 The details were among many new revelations in 42 pages of records released after a successful public records appeal by The Oregonian/OregonLive and other news organizations. Authorities believe Jen Hart drove the family's SUV off of a California cliff last month, killing all inside it. The family embarked on the trip shortly after Washington officials visited their Woodland home to investigate a child-welfare complaint. 
 
 When Oregon welfare workers checked on the family in 2013, the kids were ages 8 to 15. The investigation, opened in July of that year, was closed in December. The conclusion was that there were signs, but not definitive evidence, of abuse or neglect, and therefore no consequences or conditions for the parents. 
 
 State officials said case workers have received training since then to do a better job making decisions about the safety of children who are extremely isolated from adults outside the family, like the Hart children. 
 
 Officials blacked out the names of all child welfare workers and the doctor involved in the case. The state did not provide any record showing that a supervisor signed off on the decision or why. The section of the case report that shows who approved the decision is blank. 
 
 Although the doctor who examined the children didn't know their health histories, Oregon case workers knew some of the children were found to be underweight in Minnesota. 
 
 Minnesota child welfare records show that a social worker said that, four years after the couple adopted their middle daughter, Abigail, the then 6-year-old was the size of a 2-year-old. Her school called child welfare authorities after she was seen going through garbage and taking food. Records indicate school officials stopped telling the Hart parents when their children took food at school so that the children would not be punished. 
 
 The Oregon doctor said she would follow up with the family during subsequent visits, the records indicate. 
 
 All of the children denied they had been abused, the worker wrote. All gave nearly identical accounts. None except the middle son, Devonte Hart, showed any emotion, however, the worker wrote. All of the children said that if they got into trouble, their parents disciplined them by requiring them to meditate for five minutes. 
 
 One person who alerted authorities said that while the family was staying in her home, the group ordered pizza and each child was only allowed one small piece. The next morning the pizza was gone. The woman told authorities Jen Hart became enraged and took all the children into a bathroom. 
 
 When they emerged, Jen Hart said none of them would be eating breakfast because no one would admit he or she had eaten the pizza, the woman reported. All the children then had to lie on a bed for four to five hours. They had to wear sleeping masks on their faces and lie with their arms at their sides, the woman said. 
 
 The children responded to questions by looking to Jen Hart for permission to talk, the woman said. They also appeared lethargic in person, unlike the animated children shown in photos shared on social media. 
 
 Another woman interviewed as part of the investigation said Jen Hart had reacted defensively when asked her why she only gave the children tiny amounts of food and kept them away from people outside the family. The woman said Jen Hart told her that Hannah Hart, the oldest daughter who had been noted to be "very small" and lacking front teeth, was morbidly obese at the time of her adoption. Jen Hart said the girl "now was so much better," the woman reported. 
 
 A photograph of Hannah Hart and her two biological siblings at the time they were adopted shows a slender, normal weight 4-year-old girl with all her teeth. 
 
 Two women that Oregon case workers spoke to described Hannah and her biological brother Markis, the oldest of the Hart children, as the particular targets of Jen Hart's abuse. 
 
 One of the women said that Jen Hart told her that Markis tried to kill her once but that Devonte saved her. She witnessed Markis make a benign comment. In response, Jen Hart made him lie on a floor in a dark room for seven hours as punishment. Another time, on Markis' July 1 birthday, he got in trouble so no one could tell him "Happy birthday," the woman told Oregon case workers. 
 
 Oregon case workers are supposed to interview each child who is alleged to have been abused or neglected, then other important adults in their lives before interviewing the adults who are alleged to have abused them. 
 
 Instead, separate case workers interviewed the children and their parents at the same time during the same visit. 
 
 When Jen and Sarah Hart were interviewed, they told case workers they had been targeted in the past because they were vegetarian lesbians who adopted high-risk children while living in a small Midwestern town. They moved to Oregon to better fit in, they said. 
 
 The children came to them with food issues, they said. Jen Hart said she disciplined her children by talking to them, redirecting them and having them meditate. The report says Jen Hart "was adamant that many of the family's issues stemmed from others not understanding her family's alternative lifestyle." 
 
 Jen Hart reported that many of the children had medical issues upon adoption and she described her youngest son, Jeremiah, as "globally delayed" at the time of adoption. The couple said Jeremiah could not even use a fork when he came to them but was functioning normally now. 
 
 Jen Hart described Devonte as very violent and a victim of abuse in his birth mother's home. He was diagnosed with a mood disorder and ADHD, Jen Hart told case workers. But he no longer took medication for those conditions because the Hart parents did not believe those diagnoses, Jen Hart said. Although Jen Hart has said publicly that Devonte was shot at during his early childhood, she told the case worker that he had a gun held to his head. 
 
 The Hart parents described Devonte as thriving in their home. It was 14 months before a photograph of a tearful Devonte hugging a white police officer would gain worldwide notice. But Jen Hart told case workers the boy was already "famous nationwide for his 'free hugs.'" Jen Hart also told them she earned a degree in education. In fact, she dropped out of Northern State University in South Dakota without earning a degree. 
 
 Devonte Hart family crash 89 Gallery: Devonte Hart family crash 
 
 Oregon child welfare workers received their first complaint about the Hart family on July 18, 2013. They went to the home the next day, but no one came to the door, even though two vehicles with Minnesota license plates were in the driveway. Sarah Hart called them on July 22, but said Jen Hart and the children were traveling. 
 
 Oregon case workers were not able to meet with the Hart children and parents until five weeks after the initial report. The children were seen by the doctor in late October or early November. Case workers spoke with the doctor on Dec. 3, then told Sarah Hart on Dec. 26 that the investigation had been concluded. It was Abigail Hart's 10th birthday. 
 
 The worker told Sarah Hart the agency's conclusion was that it was unable to determine whether or not abuse or neglect had occurred and that it recommended regular medical check ups to monitor the children's heights and weights. 
 
 Sarah Hart contacted the case worker in June 2014 to say that the family was following Department of Human Services recommendations and having the children seen by a doctor again for a check up. During the investigation, the Harts had told case workers they believe in naturopathic medicine and would only take the children to a doctor for "serious issues." 
 
 Earlier, Minnesota child welfare investigators had fielded at least six reports that one or more of the Hart children had been neglected or abused. 
 
 An Oregon child welfare worker called a case worker in Minnesota to ask about the Hart children's adoptions and background. She wrote that the Minnesota worker told her that Texas carried out adoptions "even when the child welfare office has not supported the placement." 
 
 The Minnesota worker said that the problem with Jen and Sarah Hart was that they appear normal and can talk convincingly about the children having high needs and mental health issues related to food, both stemming back to their early lives before adoption. "Then people tend to assign the problems to these children," the Oregon worker wrote that the Minnesota worker told her. 
 
 "Without any regular or consistent academic or medical oversight, ... these children risk falling through the cracks," the Oregon worker wrote in her report. 
 
 One of the women who case workers spoke to about the Harts publicly stepped forward after the crash. Alexandra Argyropoulos has since started a petition calling on Congress to create a national registry of child-welfare reports. 
 
 State officials said in a statement that they believe the Hart case highlights the need for such a "clearinghouse" to avoid future tragedies. 
 
 Oregon workers were aware of six reports about the Hart family to Minnesota's child welfare agency during a three-month period from November 2010 through January 2011. All of the reports were tied to Hannah or Abigail Hart, biological siblings who were adopted in 2006. Abuse was found to be substantiated in two of the six investigations. 
 
 But Oregon workers did not learn of a 2008 investigation into allegations Jen Hart injured Hannah. 
 
 Oregon workers also did not learn that Sarah Hart had pleaded guilty to criminal abuse of Abigail until Sept. 24, 2013, two months after the investigation began. In that case, Abigail told investigators her mother had hit her because she had a penny that she claimed she had found but her mothers thought she had stolen it and that she was lying. 
 
 That was the only documented incident that resulted in consequences for either Hart parent. Sarah and Jennifer Hart were required to undergo in-home counseling and therapy, and the couple agreed to no longer physically discipline their children. 
 
 The final Minnesota child welfare report that Oregon officials learned about took place in January 2011. Hannah told a nurse she had not eaten all day. She said Jen Hart had shoved a banana and nuts in her mouth for being disrespectful. When the nurse asked Sarah Hart about what happened, Sarah Hart said "She's playing the food card. Just give her water," the nurse told a child welfare worker. 
 
 -- Molly Young 
 
 myoung@oregonian.com ||||| (CNN) They presented as the ultimate Oregon hippie moms. But peel back the homeschooling, organic food and music festivals, and Jennifer and Sarah Hart appeared to embrace a twisted philosophy on child rearing, according to two tipsters' accounts to authorities in 2013. 
 
 That philosophy was on display a year after the women wed when in 2010 -- in what seems straight out of the cult classic, "Mommie Dearest" -- the Harts declined to foster a friend's teenage daughter because she "used wire hangers against the Harts' wishes," according to a Minnesota Child Welfare report cited in the Oregon report. 
 
 Before a legally intoxicated Jennifer Hart drove her wife and at least four of their six adopted children off a cliff in Mendocino County, California, last month, the family had drawn the attention of child welfare authorities in both states after multiple reports that the kids were neglected and malnourished. 
 
 In the Oregon report, which was released this week to Oregon and Washington media outlets that filed records requests with the Oregon Department of Human Services, two women reported the children were denied food and subjected to harsh punishments, such as being forced to lie on the floor for hours. Sometimes, punishment was meted out for behavior common to being a child, such as laughing at the dinner table. 
 
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 One tipster called anonymously, while the other, who claimed to be a former friend of the Harts, asked that her identity not be revealed. 
 
 Because the anonymous tipster mentioned that the cars outside the Harts' West Linn, Oregon, home had Minnesota plates, Oregon officials called Minnesota and received a report stating Jennifer Hart had viciously spanked 9-year-old Abigail and Sarah had taken the rap for it. 
 
 Young Abigail's transgression, according to the Minnesota report? She told her parents that she had found a penny, but her mothers didn't believe her. Jennifer Hart spanked the girl, leaving bruises all over her lower torso, the girl told authorities, adding that Jennifer Hart had also put her hands on her neck and stuck her head under cold water. Sarah Hart copped to the beating and was convicted on two charges. 
 
 Eleven days earlier, Abigail alleged, Jennifer had banged her head against the wall after school officials reported Abigail had been digging through the garbage and taking other children's food. 
 
 Oregon authorities were thus aware of the family's history in Minnesota when investigating the tipsters' allegations in 2013. The state Department of Human Services investigators found there were "some indications of child abuse or neglect," but they were "unable to determine" whether the accusations were legitimate, despite picking up on disturbing, if not prosecutable, signs, the report said. 
 
 The department said in a Monday statement it was releasing the records because it was "in the best interest of helping inform measures to be taken to prevent a similar incident from happening again in Oregon or any other state." It also outlined several changes to its model for investigating cases like this one. 
 
 The Hart children smiled for photos, but away from the camera, they appeared "lifeless," a tipster said. 
 
 Today, Abigail and three of her siblings are dead, along with their mothers. Two children remain missing, though authorities suspect the pair were in the doomed SUV and were washed away by the surf. 
 
 Here is what we know about each child, and the findings of Minnesota and Oregon authorities, as laid out in the Oregon report: 
 
 Hannah, the hungry 
 
 The 16-year-old is one of two children who remain missing after the crash. 
 
 Seemingly the most outspoken of the youngsters when it came to reporting alleged abuse, Hannah had been telling adults about her mothers' behavior since at least 2010. 
 
 In December of that year, a Minnesota social worker noticed a dime-sized bruise on her hand, which Hannah said was the result of Jennifer Hart striking her for lying. She further claimed her "mom, Jen, hits her all the time," but authorities were unable to validate the claims. 
 
 In January 2011, Minnesota Child Welfare reported her classmates had been giving her food, and when she told a school nurse she had not eaten one day, Jennifer Hart grew angry and called her disrespectful. 
 
 "Hannah said Jen shoved a banana in her mouth as well as some nuts," the Minnesota report said. When Sarah Hart was asked about concerns with Hannah's diet, she replied, "She's playing the food card; just give her water." 
 
 The Minnesota social worker said that "after a while, the school stopped calling the parents about the child(ren) taking food because they didn't want the children being disciplined or punished," the report said. 
 
 When she was interviewed in Oregon in 2013, Hannah, then 11, was missing her front teeth, and her mothers said she'd knocked them out running on hardwood floors the previous year. The women said a dentist had told them Hannah would have to wait until she was at least 17 "for a retainer with teeth." 
 
 The anonymous tipster said Hannah and her biological brother, Markis, bore the brunt of Jennifer Hart's discipline, but the girl made no mention of previous abuse to the Oregon social worker. 
 
 Abigail, the tiny 
 
 In the 2010 penny incident outlined in the Minnesota report, Jennifer and Sarah Hart had discovered a penny in Abigail's pocket. When they asked the girl about the penny, she said she'd found it and got a spanking because her mothers thought she'd stolen it. 
 
 Despite Abigail blaming Jennifer, Sarah Hart claimed responsibility for the bruising from Abigail's sternum to her waist, and from her mid-back to upper buttocks, saying "it just got out of control," according to the report. In 2011, Sarah Hart was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence assault in the fourth-degree, and she pleaded guilty to attempt to inflict bodily harm. 
 
 Three years later, like Hannah, Abigail made no mention of the abuse when the Oregon social worker asked about discipline in the home. 
 
 The girl was 6 at the time, but the Minnesota social worker remarked that she looked more like a 2-year-old. When pressed about her size, the Hart women uttered a familiar refrain: Their adopted children were "high risk" and had "food issues." A doctor told social workers "she is just small," the report said. 
 
 "The Minnesota Child Welfare worker said the problem is, 'these women (Jen and Sarah Hart) look normal' and they give professionals the information about all the children being adopted because they are high needs, and have mental health issues related to food, then people tend to assign the problems to the children," the report said. 
 
 After the Oregon interview, during which Abigail was 9, the social worker remarked she was "very reserved, showing little emotion or animation." 
 
 When she was adopted at age 2, Abigail had been "labeled borderline mentally retarded," but her mothers said they felt the diagnosis was inaccurate and she'd improved academically. The mothers often disagreed with their children's previous diagnoses, according to the Oregon report. 
 
 Abigail also suffered from asthma, allergies and visions problems, the Oregon report said. 
 
 The 14-year-old was one of the three children found dead at the accident scene last month. 
 
 Devonte, the extrovert 
 
 Devonte, 15, remains missing after the crash. Both tipsters said he was "the favored child." 
 
 He was the most outgoing of the kids and gained brief fame after giving a Portland, Oregon, police officer a hug during a demonstration decrying the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. 
 
 Then-12, Devonte Hart and Sgt. Bret Barnum share a hug at a rally in Portland. 
 
 His hugs were a hit at music festivals, Jennifer told the social worker. While Sarah Hart worked, Jennifer Hart was often on the road taking the children to festivals. 
 
 According to the unidentified former friend, "Jen does this thing for her Facebook page, where the kids pose and are made to look like one big happy family, but after the photo event, they go back to looking lifeless." 
 
 Devonte, who was 10 at the time of his Oregon interview, was social, clean and well-dressed. He wore a fedora, the report said. 
 
 When he was adopted at age 6, the Hart mothers said, the only words he knew were curse words. He suffered abuse by his biological parents and was exposed to violence and drugs, and once had a gun put to his head, according to the report. 
 
 "At that time, the couple report he did not even know where his fingers and toes were. Additionally, he was reported to be very violent and would kick and bite," the report said. 
 
 He was diagnosed with mood disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and prescribed psychotropic medications, assessments with which his mothers did not agree. They had taken him off the meds, they said. 
 
 "He is reported by his parents to be thriving in home school and very interested in social justice/issues and love. He is reported and observed to be very affectionate," the report stated. 
 
 Markis, the targeted 
 
 The biological brother to Abigail and Hannah, Markis, 19, was found dead at the crash scene. 
 
 The oldest of the six children, the "somewhat soft-spoken and reserved" Markis was 15 and in ninth grade when the Oregon social worker dropped by. He seemed thin, though a doctor said there was nothing abnormal in his physical exam. 
 
 Markis said that he'd been abused in foster care and "reported being grateful to Ms. J. Hart and Ms. S. Hart for changing his life," according to the report. He said the family attended music festivals for fun and indicated he was happy to be in Oregon where there was more opportunity and the family was "contributing to the world." 
 
 The former friend, who alleged that Jennifer Hart coached her kids on how to act and what to say, said Markis received more discipline than the other children. Jennifer Hart had told the woman that Markis once tried to kill her, but Devonte had saved her. 
 
 "She indicated that on another occasion, while the family was visiting in her home, Ms. J. Hart alleged Markis tried to punch her and drug him in the home. Despite Ms. J. Hart's report, Ms. (name redacted) does not believe this and reported she also did not hear Markis yelling as reported by Ms. J. Hart." 
 
 On another occasion, the ex-friend said that Markis had gotten into trouble on his birthday, and as punishment, the mothers forbade anyone from wishing him, "Happy birthday." 
 
 Markis had been on psychotropic medication when he was adopted, but he had since been taken off the regimen and his mothers reported no behavioral or mental issues, according to the report. 
 
 Jeremiah, the fittest 
 
 He had turned 14 about a month before he died. He was 9 when interviewed, and the Oregon report says he is the only one of the children who was the correct size and height for his age. 
 
 He was "very reserved" during his interview and, according to his mothers, needed eyeglasses. 
 
 Before adoption, Jeremiah had been diagnosed as autistic and the Hart women claimed he was "globally delayed" -- like their other children -- when they gained custody of him. 
 
 "The couple said Jeremiah could not even use a fork when he came to them, but was functioning normally now," the report said. 
 
 He was also taking prescribed medications "for a variety of issues" when they adopted him, but no longer needed those, his adopted parents said. 
 
 Ciera, the youngest 
 
 She would've celebrated her 13th birthday last week. The biological sister of Jeremiah and Devonte, Ciera was found almost two weeks after the accident, and police later identified her as one of the six Hart children. 
 
 Ciera was 8 when the Oregon social worker interviewed her. 
 
 "Like her siblings, she appeared small for her age and was noted to be very reserved when interviewed," the report said, adding that a doctor had detected nothing abnormal despite her weight and stature. 
 
 She told the social worker she was in second grade and enjoyed being home-schooled. No behavioral or mental issues were reported. 
 
 'These children risk falling through the cracks' 
 
 In another incident, the former friend said she had invited Jennifer Hart and the children over to her home and they ordered pizza. Jennifer Hart would allow the kids only one small piece, and when everyone woke up in the morning, the remaining pizza was gone. 
 
 "Ms. J. Hart became angry and said she knew who ate it. Ms. J. Hart then took her children to the bathroom and after coming out, told she and her husband none of her children would be eating breakfast as no one fessed up to eating the pizza," the tipster said. 
 
 Jennifer Hart then forced all six kids to lie on an air mattress "with sleeping masks on their face and their arms by their side for five hours," she said. 
 
 The Oregon social worker worried that because the children were home schooled, they did not have "regular contact with any mandatory reporters." Perhaps that was by design, as Minnesota Child Welfare said the family pulled their kids out of school and later vanished following that department's investigation. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Questions surround family killed off cliff Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Questions surround family killed off cliff 02:08 
 
 "When the assessment was completed, the services were concluded, the Harts pulled the children out of school, and home schooled their children, and eventually sold their home, and moved," according to the report. 
 
 The Harts called Woodland, Washington, home at the time of their deaths. Days before they died, a neighbor contacted authorities to say the women had been mistreating their children and withholding meals. Devonte had been coming by as often as three times a day, asking for food, neighbor Bruce Dekalb said 
 
 He called Child Protective Services on March 23, and officials arrived just after Jennifer Hart came home, but she didn't answer the door. The next morning, the family was gone. Child Protective Services tried to visit again March 26 and 27, but didn't make contact, the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services said. 
 
 One line in the Oregon report warns that something bad might befall the children, given their lack of contact with the outside world. 
 
 "Without any regular or consistent academic or medical oversight, and unknown child welfare reviews through State of Texas for either foster/adopt subsidies, these children risk falling through the cracks," it said.
– In the wake of the Hart family's death at the bottom of a Northern California cliff comes the release of reports by child-welfare officials in Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington state that the New York Times sees as peppered with "clues" as to what was going on inside the family. Its take: that the documents show a "pair of mothers—one dictatorial and eccentric, the other constantly working and seldom home—who doled out cruel punishments." Some of the details are expansions of already reported allegations; others are new. One of the Minnesota reports states that the school the children attended stopped calling Jennifer Hart (the more assertive parent) and Sarah Hart (a manager at Kohl's) regarding any issues with their kids because they feared the calls would trigger harsh punishment for the children. The Oregon reports include a friend's recollection of an overnight visit the family made to her home during which Jennifer restricted the kids' pizza consumption to one tiny piece. When the leftovers were discovered in the morning to have been eaten, and none of the kids owned up to it, the friend said Jennifer punished the kids by denying them breakfast and making them lie on a bed with their arms by their sides and sleep masks on for as long as five hours, the Oregonian reports. As for the bruising spanking that led to a misdemeanor domestic assault charge for Sarah in Minnesota, CNN reports Sarah allegedly took the fall for Jennifer, who reportedly punished elementary-school-aged Abigail for saying she'd found a penny she had; her mothers accused her of stealing it.