Mass. rescuers deliver cheer to Roxbury children taken from dirty home
By O’Ryan Johnson
The Boston Herald
Copyright 2006 Boston Herald Inc.
Big-hearted Boston EMS workers dropped off more than 25 presents and social workers brought in a Christmas tree to a load of six poverty-stricken Roxbury kids who were temporarily taken into state custody Saturday night when their mother left them with a wanted felon, police said.
Police chased the man, wanted on a larceny warrant, into the apartment and found the kids living amid dirty diapers tossed on the floor, rotting garbage, and with no food in the refrigerator. The suspect got away.
“The apartment itself was not fit for human occupancy,” said one of the first responders on the scene.
“There was an overpowering smell of spoiled food. I couldn’t go into the kitchen too far because I was gagging, and I have a pretty strong stomach.”
Department of Social Services spokeswoman Denise Monteiro said the children were returned to the Stanwood Street home yesterday morning after it was cleaned.
"(Caseworkers) went back first thing this morning to make the place habitable,” she said. “It’s pretty messy, but in terms of health codes, it doesn’t violate any.”
She said the agency has arranged for a full-time mentor to stay in the home for eight hours a day, seven days a week, to help the single mother of six learn to care for her children.
“We’re not afraid to take kids away,” Monteiro said. “In this case, the social workers stayed there until 4 in the morning. ... They (the children) just want to be together.”
However, she warned: “You know what, at the end of the day, at the end of the week, we’re not saying the kids aren’t going to be removed.”
The children, aged 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 and 13, were not malnourished, but were not properly clothed for the weather, a source said.
“The kids were very well-behaved,” the source said. “The 13-year-old kind of looked after his siblings. He knew birthdates, medical conditions. He knew what kind of formula the baby took.”
Meanwhile, DSS and Boston EMS raced to bring Christmas to the home. Robert Morley, vice president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Union EMS division, said one of the EMTs who went to the home Saturday asked the union to bring gifts left over from its toy drive.
EMS workers made sure to get an equal number of toys for each kid - even making a run to Target for more - then returned to the home about 7 p.m. last night to drop off the presents, including a CD player, football, basketball, dolls and art supplies.
“These are really good kids,” a source said. “They really deserve it.”