DAYTON — Five children ages 4 to 12 were found alone inside a boarded-up Dayton house with no food or electricity on Oct. 1, prompting Dayton police and Montgomery County Children’s Services to take all six siblings in the household into custody.
The house on Delphos Avenue is designated a “nuisance abated” property. A man checking on the building for an attorney managing the estate called 911 after discovering children inside. “It would appear that somebody has moved their kids in here,” he told a dispatcher. “It’s bad.”
First responders took the children to Dayton Children’s Hospital for medical evaluations, then placed them with Montgomery County Children’s Services. The 4-year-old was later placed with a family member.
After learning police had removed the children, their mother called dispatch and said she had been rushed to the hospital early that morning. She said her 15-year-old son was supposed to be watching his younger siblings and gave the boarded-up house as her residence. She said the children had not been able to go to school but did not explain why.
The teenager was not at the house when officers arrived and did not attend school the following day. Officers located him at school on Oct. 6, and he was also placed into children’s services custody.
A caseworker told dispatch the agency was working to gain custody of the children and said it was unknown whether the house even had running water.
