ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605170062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI and LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITERS
Police and social workers removed three children from a Northwest Roanoke home Wednesday evening and charged their parents with child neglect.
Authorities would not release the names of the parents because it would identify the children - a 2-year-old boy, a 3-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy. At least two of the children were wearing only soiled pants, police said.
The children are in temporary foster care.
Patrol officers accompanied Social Service workers to the house on the 200 block of Harrison Avenue Northwest about 6 p.m. to remove the children as a result of a court order Social Services requested.
Excrement was found on the floor and smeared on the walls, a police news release said. There was no electricity. And the children's 74-year-old grandmother was found bedridden. The woman was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
The children's father was arrested at the scene. The mother, who was not home when authorities arrived, was arrested early Thursday.
Cases such as this one comprise only a small number of the complaints the Roanoke Department of Social Services investigates, according to Superintendent Corinne Gott.
On average, the department looks into 800 complaints a year. About 10 to 15 are drastic situations, Gott said. "This one was like others, in that the children were dirty and living in conditions that you feel repulsed by. It's a fairly typical kind of thing for us to run into. But this one was also pretty typically bad."
The court order gave Social Services permission to remove the children Wednesday because they were in danger, Gott said. A hearing will be held - possibly as early as Monday - to "find out what was going on and what to do with the children," she said.
"The judge can at that point return the children to the parents or caretaker or grant us temporary custody so we can work with the family to rehabilitate and help to return the children home," she said.
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