Pontiac mom accused of abandoning 3 kids in filthy home due in court for custody hearing
Pontiac woman accused of abandoning children may lose parental rights
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said deputies were called for a welfare check at a home on Lydia Lane in February. The landlord called after he said he had not heard from the mother since December and that rent was last paid in October. He told officers that he was concerned something had happened.
PONTIAC, Mich. (FOX 2) - A Pontiac mother accused of leaving her three children to fend for themselves in a filthy home for years is due in court Tuesday for a custody hearing.
Kelli Bryant will appear in court for a hearing to terminate her parental rights. Her children were given to a caregiver after they were found living alone in a home full of trash and feces earlier this year.
The backstory:
Bryant is facing charges of three counts of first-degree child abuse.
WARNING: The details of this story are disturbing.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said deputies were called for a welfare check at a home on Lydia Lane in February. The landlord called after he said he had not heard from the mother since December and that rent was last paid in October.
He told officers that he was concerned something had happened.
Deputies arrived and found the home full of garbage – piled as high as four feet in some rooms. The rooms were also covered in mold and human waste. The toilet was overflowing, and the bathtub was full of feces.
The home was being lived in by the three children, alone.
The boy, the oldest of the siblings, said they lived in the home with their mother but that she abandoned them in either 2020 or 2021 – at least four years ago - when the children would have been just 11, 9, and 8. They were 15, 13, and 12 when they were found.
Pontiac mother charged with abandoning kids accused of calling their caregiver from jail
A Pontiac mother currently in jail after she allegedly abandoned her children in a filthy home for years is accused of calling their caregiver repeatedly despite being ordered not to.
The children survived on food that was dropped off on the front porch each week by either their mother or a stranger.
But they had no access to toilet paper or personal hygiene items. The sheriff said they were unfamiliar with personal hygiene and didn't even know how to flush a toilet.
They had also not attended school since she left them and instead passed time by watching TV or playing games. The sheriff said the girls had not been outside in several years.
The boy slept on a mattress on the floor, but the two girls slept on pizza boxes.
"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," Bouchard said.
According to deputies, neighbors were unaware that children lived in the home and had never seen them. They said they had seen their mother at the home each month.
The kids were all wearing soiled clothing with matted hair and toenails so long that it was difficult to walk.
Dig deeper:
This case has led to proposed law changes in Michigan that officials say could protect other children.
According to Bouchard, there is a gap in the Michigan school code that allowed the children to be removed from school without detection. Bouchard said that the children had left a school, which un-enrolled them after assuming they had moved to another school. The previous school had received a transcript request from the new school, but never received confirmation that the children had actually enrolled.
House Bill 492 would close that gap by requiring confirmation that a student was actually enrolled in a new school district before their old district can un-enroll them.
How school transfer requirements could have helped Michigan kids found living alone in filth
Earlier this year, three children were rescued from a filthy Pontiac home where they had lived alone for years. Now, authorities are pushing to change laws to make sure other children don't end up in the same position.
"Basically, (it) simply says that once you send those transcripts, you can't assume that the other school has those kids," Bouchard said. "You've got to follow up and ask a question before you un-enroll them from your school."
If no answer is given, Bouchard says it will either trigger a truancy investigation or get police involved to figure out where a student is, if they are not attending school in either district.
Authorities say that the requirement would ensure all children are accounted for. Had such a requirement been in place previously, it could have stopped the three abandoned kids from slipping through the cracks because they were not in school during the time they were living alone.
"It just fills that void that these kids fell through and hopefully prevents that from ever happening to another child," Bouchard said.
The Source: Previous FOX 2 reporting was used in this story.