Mom goes to Italy, leaves six kids home alone

Greeley Tribune ^ | 2-12-03 | Mike Peters

[Pat Bateman]

Mom goes to Italy, leaves six kids home alone

Children now in foster care; police waiting for mother to return

Story by Mike Peters

Police want to talk to a Greeley mother who is accused of leaving her six children alone earlier this month while she took a two-week vacation to Italy with her boyfriend.

No charges have been filed, so the woman's name has not been revealed. Greeley police have recommended child-neglect charges to the Weld District Attorney's Office, which will be deciding if the case warrants criminal charges.

According to police spokesman Sgt. John Gates, the woman left for vacation on Feb. 3, and her oldest child, a 15-year-old daughter, was supposed to be in charge of the others. The other children are 6, 8, 10, 11 and 12 years old.

Police were called to the home in the 2400 block of 17th Avenue on Feb. 4, the day after the mother left. When officers went to the house, the 15-year-old was not at home, and the siblings said she was at a youth group meeting at their church.

The girl returned home while police were there, and she told officers their mother left $7 in cash and her credit card for them to use to buy food.

Officers said there was ample food in the house.

The mother also left each child a contact sheet, with names of people they could call in case of trouble.

However, most of the names were illegible.

The grandmother of the children lives in Denver and was not able to care for the children.

Their father lives in Thornton and is under a restraining order to meet with the children only on supervised visits.

While police were at the Greeley home, two teenage boys came into the house. They were the 15-year-old's boyfriend and a friend of his, officers said.

None of the children knew where their mom was in Italy, although she told them she would e-mail them daily.

Weld County Social Services was called to the home by police, and the children were placed in two foster homes.

Gates said officers are still waiting for the mother to return.

[and the horse you rode in on]

If the "dogooder" really wanted to help, why did they not spend an hour or two in the evening feeding and supervising the children to make sure they were safe and taken care of.

Because these days you can probably get arrested for doing that. You will certainly be sued by someone.

[wanderin]

What kind of a man want a woman who does not check on her young children frequently while on a two week holiday?

The mother is not doing this alone.

If he had any worth, he would be asking and making sure this poor excuse of a mother checked in with her kids.

[GovernmentShrinker]

It's pretty tough to have the children "removed from their biological mother's care" when the mother has already removed herself to the other side of the Atlantic. And sending them to dad wasn't an option either, since he's already gotten himself under a restraining order regarding contact with them. And I can't help but wonder whether the 15 year old was actually caring for the younger kids, or leaving them to their own devices while she frolicked with her boyfriend.

I save my vitriolic tirades against CPS for cases where the parents are around to object to the removal. It sounds as if this "mother" still doesn't know that her kids have been split up and sent off to two different foster homes. If she cared, she'd know. I wonder how those promised daily e-mail communications between mom and eldest daughter are managing to skip over that little detail.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I wouldn't be surprised if further investigation reveals that he's not the father of all the children, and the some of the children don't know who their father is. A family like that used to live across the street from me, and mom had number 7 while they were living there. The rather sensible eldest, a 14 year old boy, told me he didn't know who the latest's father was, and that the only man I ever saw visiting the home was not his father but was the father of a couple of the middle children. I saw that guy hauled away by police twice, when he tried to break in, because the mom wouldn't let him in when he was in a drunken rage. She was a five star loser, but at least she didn't take off on vacations and leave the brood on its own.

[wanderin]

want = wants

[tuna_battle]

"The children are being ripped from the loving arms of a mother who voluntarily zipped off on an Italian holiday with her boyfriend".

The above statement appears contradictory. The children were "RIPPED FROM..." (indicates an involuntary action) the loving(?) arms of a mother who VOLUNTARILY zipped off? There was no ripping; it was clearly 100% voluntary (I may be misinterpreting your comment, though).

[mc5cents]

[GovernmentShrinker]

Maybe a man who doesn't know she HAS children. Like Amber Frey didn't know Scott Peterson had a wife. Irresponsible selfish slimeballs lie a lot.

[Aliska]

What kind of a man want a woman who does not check on her young children frequently while on a two week holiday?

Plenty. Men who take up with women in this manner don't look for "character". I've seen it over and over.

[martin gibson]

Their father lives in Thornton and is under a restraining order to meet with the children only on supervised visits.

I 1000% guarantee Dad is paying for this trip out the 'child support' garnisheed from his check.

The woman (womyn?) is a pig.

[TontoKowalski]

Re-reading my post, I can understand your confusion. I did not make it clear that I was responding (with some intended sarcasm) to another post, in which the Freeper stated his belief that the state was unnecessarily intervening...

My apologies for a sloppy post.

[tuna_battle]

My apologies for a sloppy post.

Nah, I shouldn't have posted such an unnecessary, ridiculous detail-oriented overkill comment. :)

[MEGoody]

I agree -I feel sorry for the 15 year old. No one of that age should be having to care for 5 children for weeks. It is hard enough for two adult parents to do. She probably also feels guilt about the kids being sent to foster care. Nevertheless, the mom is obviously not responsible enough to be a mom either.

[dljordan]

They'll probably put the father in jail.

[Exit148]

Altho a 15 yr.old is well into baby-sitting age, this IS a bit much. The idea of the 2 guys in the house without an adult is a big no-no. Was her boy friend going to help with the cooking or laundry?

Was there no way for the kids to reach mommy-dearest? If so, the authorities should have contacted her immediately and watched over the kids instead of sending them to foster care.

The whole thing is a mess all around --- just because the mom decided to go play.

[wanderin]

Maybe a man who doesn't know she HAS children.

Possible, but six kids is hard to keep under wraps.

To take someone on an international vacation for 2 weeks without having seen the traveling companion in the home setting at least once is an idiot. One usually knows someone fairly well before going off to see the world together.

[SarahW]

Agree. No flames here.

A fifteen year-old is quite capable of supervising brothers and sisters of those ages.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Remember the lady in California a few weeks ago who left her two much younger children alone for a similar period of time? She told them she was going to Korea or China (wherever their ancestors were from -- I can't recall), but she was really going to North Carolina to MEET a man she'd met online and was thinking of marrying! These folks' brains just aren't in working order. It's hopeless to try to apply rational thinking to their activities.

[wanderin]

These folks' brains just aren't in working order. It's hopeless to try to apply rational thinking to their activities.

Agreed. sacrificing the kids welfare to chase after someone is now common in our society.

A few years back I had to redo a photo a woman brought in to my place of employment. It was a 15 yr old photo of her. The years had not been kind to her. My task, crop out her 2 sons. She was sending it to a man she had met on the internet who was flying in and wanted to know what she looked like. The sons were with her, listening as she bragged she had not told this man about them, her true age, etc. Just plain nuts!

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

I agree with you 100%.