The children were living among mold and piles of garbage, officials said.
Three children survived on weekly drop-offs of prepared food in a home with mold and human excrements throughout the house
A Michigan mother was charged with first-degree child abuse on Wednesday for allegedly abandoning her children for several years and leaving them in deplorable conditions, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department.
The 34-year-old mother was arrested last week, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Sunday. To protect the identity of the children — aged 15, 13 and 12 — her name was not released.
Sheriff Michael Bouchard called the children’s living conditions “abuse of the highest order.” Human waste and mold were found inside the home, garbage was thrown everywhere, and the children survived on weekly drop-offs of prepared food, the sheriff’s office said.
“This situation would be deemed deplorable and intolerable for an animal, and it is utterly unacceptable for three children,” Bouchard said in a statement.
Deputies were called to the home on Friday afternoon to conduct a welfare check after the landlord said he had not heard from the mother since December, the news release states. The landlord said the mother had last paid rent in October and he was concerned that something may have happened.
When deputies arrived, they found the home in “deplorable shape,” the news release states. The children, a 15-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl, and a 12-year-old girl, were inside.
“Garbage was piled as high as four feet in some rooms, mold and human waste was found throughout, with the toilet overflowing and feces in the bathtub,” the sheriff’s office said.
