Another horrible story of neglect has come to the attention of the media. This time, the scene is Orlando, Fla. Yolander Lasane, age 45, was living in a house so full of filth police needed a shovel to enter. Inside, they found five children; ages 5, 9, 12, 15 and 17 starving, filthy, and in one case, extreme dental pain. One child begged the officers to please find him a new family and showed a mouth full of rotten teeth and swollen gums. The mother told local news team, WFTV Channel 9, that she could not clean because of her obesity.
Inside the bedrooms, household pets roamed free and their urine and feces was everywhere. When the police checked on the level of food in the house, they found the kitchen was equally as gross with little food and trash everywhere. The Lasane’s living area was notably cleaner but still just as nasty as the rest of the home.
But how did these children get in such a situation? The neighbors saw the children, who would beg and work for food and money. And, believe it or not, child welfare services were involved. According to Kristi Gray of the Florida Division of Children and Family, they had to give the mother a chance. She told WFTV, “the last thing we want to do is have to remove children from their home. We want to maintain them in the home when we can safely do that.” It was only after the 17-year-old teenager left the home and stopped going to school that DCF took action and arrested the mother and removed the children. DCF allowed this family to suffer for a month before these drastic actions were taken. Neighbors were outraged. They stated that they had called authorities several times to help the children. One neighbor even had to teach the young children how to kill roaches in their home. The mother is being held in the Orange County Jail on five charges of child neglect causing great bodily harm.
Look at the pictures from the home and you judge whether or not the children were safer with the mother for a month.
