ANKENY, Iowa — A mother and father have been charged with false imprisonment after their adopted teenage children told authorities their parents locked them in the basement of their suburban Des Moines home for weeks, allowed them out only for school, and passed their meals under the locked door.

The 13-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy told authorities that the imprisonment was a form of discipline, but no information has been released on why they were being punished. The Iowa Department of Human Services said it removed the teens from the home in Ankeny after one of them told a school employee about their confinement.