Macomb County
Mother charged in abandonment of children; schools respond to questions about truancy not being flagged
The Pontiac woman who is accused of leaving her three children almost five years ago, causing them to live in a house plagued by dirt, is confronted with three crime accusations of first grade child abuse that is punishable for life in prison.
At a press conference on Wednesday to announce charges against Kelli Bryant, 34, Oakland County said public prosecutor Karen McDonald that she will ask the Ministry of Health and Human Services to submit a petition to end the parental rights of Bryant .
Treed rights is expected on Thursday for Bryant, who has been in the prison of Oakland County since last Friday. Bryant was arrested after representatives who performed a welfare check at her town hall of Stonegate Pointe on Lydia Lane – as asked by the landlord – Bryant’s three children, a boy and two girls between the ages of 15, 13 and 12, who is described in what is described As’ absolutely described squalor. “
Researchers said that the children had not had any physical contact with their mother or another adult since she left them in 2020. The two girls never left the house and the boy only ventured outside twice in five years – once to feel the grass and once to check the mail, officials said.
“They were abandoned in a disgusting pit of waste and squalor … It was incredible they lived in – incredible,” said McDonald.
All three had mobile phones, but were told by their mother that they should not leave – and “feared what the mother would do if they left,” said McDonald.
The 15-year-old would text their mother if they needed food and she would have it steered, said McDonald, but toilet paper, soap and other hygiene products were never provided.
According to McDonald, representatives were ‘surprised’ to discover that someone lived in the house, whom they considered uninhabitable. Human waste and waste were piled up in the entire home, the toilet did not work and the bathtub was filled with droppings. Provision technicians reportedly wore Hazmat suits to process the scene.
The three children were hidden, seemed to be quite anxious and had to be persuaded, McDonald said.
“They showed signs of serious neglect,” she added.
The girls were covered with droppings and had trouble walking, and when leaving the house for the first time in so many years were “immediately overstimulated,” McDonald said.
The three were taken immediately for a medical evaluation and were then interviewed in Care House, McDonald said. They remain in custody of the DHHS and are placed with a family member.
“No love”
McDonald said that the case is most striking for her is that the children had ‘no love’.
“There was no one to take care of them (years), not a parent … No one to let them know that they were safe or loved.”
The trauma that the children suffered “is important”, McDonald added, but they seem to do well. “
According to researchers, Bryant began to live in the Stadshuis in 2019 with the three children and her other child from a different relationship who later went to live with his father. Bryant moved in 2020 or 2021, said McDonald. Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said that the 15-year-old reported that his mother was leaving in 2020.
Over the years, Bryant reportedly lied about the children cared, said civil servants.
When asked to speculate why Bryant would do what is being claimed, McDonald in general said in disturbing cases: “We don’t know why. We can’t get into the spirit of someone else … Smetimes is no why. “
Both fathers were interviewed by researchers, McDonald added. There has been no request for criminal charges so far, McDonald said, but it is not excluded.
School officer responds
Researchers have established that the children do not go to school since they were abandoned, but the truancy was not tackled. Bouchard said that legislative changes are needed to tackle “gaps in the school code” that played a role in the years of absence of the children who unnoticed.
Kimberly Leverette, interim -superintendent for the Pontiac School District, has released this statement to the Oakland Press on Wednesday:
“The Pontiac School District continues to collaborate with the Sheriff’s Department of Oakland County to support the children who were discovered in unimaginable circumstances last weekend. The children went to the Pontiac School District a few years ago, but were last present in 2021 and were no longer registered with the Pontiac School District. We have received archive requests, for registration, for two of the children of two different schools that we have provided at that time.
“Our practice is to constantly assess and evaluate our processes and procedures. Our registration and recording procedures have changed considerably since the time the students were in our district. This situation has motivated us to look even deeper into how we can sharpen our systems even more. We actively take extra steps at every level for further improvement.
“We remain the sheriff department of Oakland County, Oakland County Officer of Justice and everyone who works on this case. We appreciate the attention that Sheriff Bouchard gives to the need to ensure that students are responsible at school and the proposed accounts that are in discussion about this issue.
“The most important thing is that we are grateful that the children are safe and receive care, as well as for the incredible outpouring of support from our community and then.”
Reporter Matt Fahr has contributed to this story.
Originally published: