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A Fort Wayne woman faces neglect charges after police said they found her children covered in feces and being fed only sugar water at their south-side apartment last fall.
One of the children, a 2-year-old boy, was so malnourished, he weighed only 13 pounds when police and the Indiana Department of Children Services inspected the apartment, according to documents filed Wednesday in Allen Superior Court.
Amanda Alvather, 24, of the 300 block of West Creighton Avenue, is charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent.
During an inspection of Alvather’s apartment in October, three children were found wearing soiled clothes and were covered in “filth, feces and smelled of urine,” court records said.
All three children were taken to Parkview Hospital because of health conditions, and the 2-year-old was suffering from acute dehydration and hyperglycemia, court documents said.
The boy was also lethargic and disoriented and was not receiving appropriate treatment for Down syndrome. Alvather told caseworkers she thought her 2-year-old son was in need of medical treatment but did not seek treatment because of her “financial situation,” court records said.
The two other children had reddened skin consistent with frostbite. None was verbally communicating when they were removed from the apartment, court documents said.
In addition, state caseworkers said the children were being fed only sugar water and had delayed motor skills. All three children were removed from the home, court documents said.
Ann Houseworth, a spokeswoman for the Department of Children Services, said she could not speak specifically about this case in order to guard the children’s privacy. Normal protocol requires that a judge determine whether children will be put back into someone’s care, she said.
According to court documents, scarce food and beverages were inside the apartment to provide the nourishment the children needed. The home was unclean and had safety hazards. There was no heat, and workers found a lock on the apartment door used by Alvather to leave the children home unattended.
In October, Alvather was charged with neglect of an animal. A box had been dropped on Alvather’s dog, and she did not take the animal to the veterinarian for treatment, court records said.
When Animal Control workers found the animal, it was outside the home with no shelter or water and on a short leash, court records said.
