HOUSTON – Authorities are searching for a Texas woman who allegedly left her two young children alone at home for several weeks, according to media reports.
Raven Yates, 31, is wanted on two counts of abandoning or endangering a child without intent to return, officials with the Roman Forest Police Department told KPRC, KSAT’s sister station in Houston. Roman Forest is a city located in Montgomery County, north of Houston.
Police said that on Nov. 14, they were contacted by the father of the children, who said he believed his 12-year-old daughter had been home alone since Sept. 28. The girl had been taking care of her 3-year-old brother without access to food or medical supplies.
The father, who works in California, suspected the children were alone because the 12-year-old was asking him to send them food. The father flew to Texas and was informed that Yates went to Mobile, Alabama without her children.
“The conditions inside the house did look like a 12-year-old was taking care of a 3-year-old, it wasn’t an adult, but miraculously and thankfully they were both healthy and they had created ways of getting food,” Roman Forest Police Chief Stephen Carlisle told the station.
KTRK reported that the children were never enrolled in school when they moved to Texas a year ago.
Authorities believe Yates is still in Alabama, and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
KPRC reported that Yates’ 14-year-old daughter ran away before Yates left. All three children are safe and in the care of relatives, police said.
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