A mother from Michigan has been taken into custody by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office for reportedly leaving her three children alone in a residence for a period of 4-5 years.
Officials reported that the children lived in squalor, relying solely on weekly food deliveries. According to first responders, several rooms contained four-foot heaps of garbage. Mold and human waste were also discovered throughout the home.
Deputies responded to a residence in Pontiac, Michigan, on Friday afternoon to conduct a welfare check. Upon arrival, they discovered three children, a 15-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl, and a 12-year-old girl, unattended and alone. The police found the sisters confined in a bathroom.
The home’s landlord informed authorities that he hadn’t heard from the mother since December, and the rent was last paid in October.
The oldest sibling stated that the children were abandoned by their mother in 2020 or 2021 and that they were surviving on prepared food dropped off by their mother or a stranger once each week.
Police claim the youngsters had not attended school since their desertion, instead spending their time watching television or playing video games. The children looked to have not left the house in years, with the boy sleeping on a mattress on the floor and the girls sleeping on pizza boxes.
The youngsters were sent to the hospital for evaluation, their clothes dirty, their hair matted, and their nails so long that walking became impossible.
The mother was detained without incident at a different location, and the children are currently in the care of a relative, as arranged by Child Protective Services.
“Throughout my extensive career in this field, I have never encountered a scenario as dire and prolonged as this one, involving abandonment, neglect, and abuse of the highest order,” Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in a release on the arrest. “This situation would be deemed deplorable and intolerable for an animal, and it is utterly unacceptable for three children. They have been deprived of any interaction with their mother and have not received an education for years. The far-reaching consequences of this abuse must be acknowledged. We look forward to presenting this case to the prosecutor and ensuring that this mother faces the consequences of her actions.”