Four children who were removed from their Middletown home this summer after there were allegations of abuse and neglect will spend Christmas with their maternal grandparents.

The children — ages 2, 4, 10 and 14 of the blended family of Shawn and Joanna Blackston of Middletown — were placed in legal custody of their grandparents Monday morning by visiting Judge Tom Lipps in Butler County Juvenile Court.

The children, whom The Journal is not naming, lived with Shawn and Joanna Blackston until they were removed from their Philadelphia Avenue home on July 3 following the allegations of abuse and reports that a 12-year-old was locked in the basement.

The Blackstons were found guilty Nov. 16 of child endangering. The judge said they treated their 12-year-old daughter and stepdaughter differently, including belittling her, ostracizing her, and not providing her enough food. However, they were not found guilty of locking the 12-year-old in the basement.

Lipps awarded custody of four of the children to Joanna’s parents, Kemal and Mildred Green, of Hamilton. Lipps told the Greens that Shawn and Joanna Blackston were allowed to visit the children, but were not permitted to have overnight visits.

Lipps said he felt the Greens were the best option after reviewing a home study and talking to them.

Because the children are in foster care, in an unknown location but not within driving distance of Hamilton, Lipps said the children will stay in their schools until the next semester break, to make the transition easier.

Lipps warned the Greens not to return the children to the Blackstons when the court is “looking the other way.”

Lipps said the case will be revisited in six months, and he instructed Butler County Children Services caseworkers to monitor the children and their progress monthly, even after the case is closed. Lipps said the children must continue to receive counseling after they move in with their grandparents.

The children will remain with the Greens until there is “a change in circumstances” with them, Lipps said.

The biological father of the 10-year-old also was in court. He hasn’t seen his daughter for most of her life, he said. Lipps said if the girl wants to reconnect with her father, he needs to take the relationship “real slow and at her speed.”

After the hearing, the Blackstons refused comment.

Three of Shawn Blackston’s children, including the 12-year-old and a 15-year-old who made similar allegations of abuse after she was removed from the home after a domestic violence incident, are in foster care and are scheduled for a custody hearing at 2:45 p.m. Jan. 30.

The children have been in foster care since Butler County Children Services removed them. Shawn, 40, and Joanna Blackston, 37, are set to be sentenced Dec. 18. They each face up to six months in jail.