Just when I think I've heard it all in terms of parents abusing and neglecting their children, I find out about a 16-month-old baby girl who was found in "deplorable conditions" in her Texas home Tuesday night. Her mother has admitted to sometimes putting inside a dog cage. But that's not all. Apparently, nobody–not the neighbors nor Child Protective Services–even knew the toddler existed! Her parents are on probation for child abuse and their other five children had all been removed from the home in recent years.
Cops only found out about the baby because they were at her rural home investigating allegations of animal cruelty.
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Reading about the conditions in which the baby was found is almost impossible to hold back tears. Cops said she was next to the dog crate with cockroaches crawling all over her and surrounded by decaying trash and feces. The baby was also found drinking spoiled milk from a dirty bottle. How she was able to survive her first year of life under those conditions is a mystery to me. Poor baby!
According to court records, the baby's mother, Mabel Jo Larsen, 32, told police that "she puts the child in the cage sometimes so that she and the child can get some sleep… she then knows where the child is and is able to keep the child away from the animals." Really?
Meanwhile, Larsen and the baby's father, Aaron Michael Parker, 34, pleaded guilty to child injury charges a year ago and were sentenced to probation. The charges have to do with allegations of neglect and pysical and emotional abuse of Parker's daughter back in October of 2009. She now leaves with relatives. Those same charges eventually lead CPS to remove four other children–some belonging to Larsen and others to Parker–from the home.
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But their children are not the only one being neglected. The allegations of animal cruelty were apparently true as the Houston SPCA removed 15 dogs and two horses all of whom appeared malnourished, with the dogs having visible eye and skin problems.
What do you think causes a human being to neglect children and animals? Share your thought with us by leaving us a comment below.
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