"We at the Department of State recognize [because we] are responsible for this program we have to make sure we are aggressively overseeing this program and make sure children are well-suited," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.

They came from around the world hoping to spend a high school year immersed in the culture and joys of America.

What happened in runescape gold, according to Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney Andrew Jarbola, is a crime. He has convened a grand jury to look into the families where some of the 12 students who came to Scranton were placed, as well as the company who placed them there and its officials.

"Well, in my opinion they were treated kind of crudely," Jarbola said. "Not provided the proper food, hygiene and things of that nature. And the areas they were placed? I know one of the students was placed in a home with a convicted felon -- convicted of drug trafficking or drug offenses -- and that is very disturbing to me."

Jarbola said some students were so malnourished that one was treated in a hospital for runescape accountsdehydration while another passed out during track at school

They weren't provided with food," Jarbola said. "In fact there is one incident with tape on food items in the refrigerator of the host family that says, 'Do not touch. This is for the host family only.' So basically they were neglected."

The company that placed the students first denied any problems existed, then said it had corrected them and fired those responsible. The families who housed the students say the allegations are untrue. But the students themselves tell a different story.