Texas mother Raven Yates allegedly left her two young children to fend for themselves while she traveled to Alabama, police said.
Police are searching for a 31-year-old Texas mother who allegedly left her two young children by themselves for nearly two months while she traveled out of state, authorities said.
Raven Yates is wanted on child endangerment and abandonment charges, and is believed to be in Alabama, Roman Forest Police Department Chief Stephen Carlisle told local reporters this week.
There was "no food in the house, everything was empty," Carlisle said. "There were some dry beans and spices. That was it."
The 12-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother were on their own from Sept. 28 to mid-November, the chief said. The girl's father, who lives in California, contacted police after learning that Yates had been seen in Mobile without her children, Carlisle said.
The father told investigators his daughter had been contacting him and asking for food to be delivered because her mother was working, Carlisle said.
"A 12-year-old cannot take care of a 3-year-old for a long period of time, especially over a month and a half," Carlisle said. "It's dangerous and irresponsible of a parent. Without medical supplies or ways to get food, that's very dangerous."
The children have different fathers, and Yates had threatened her 12-year-old daughter that if she told anyone, her father would take her and leave her little brother alone, Carlisle said.
The girl was afraid, and so falsely claimed her mom was busy at work when talking to her dad, police said. She asked him to schedule food deliveries, but didn't tell him she and her brother were alone in the Texas house, authorities said.
The father summoned police and immediately flew to Texas after he was informed that Yates had been seen alone in her hometown of Mobile, Carlisle said.
The mother and her children had moved to Texas last year, police said, and neither child had been registered for school.
Investigators who entered the Texas house found deplorable conditions, with a nearly empty refrigerator and a urine-soaked bed belonging to the 3-year-old, police said.
Yates also has a 14-year-old daughter who was reported as a runaway before the mother allegedly abandoned her younger children, police said. All three children have been reunited and are safely in the custody of a family member, authorities said.
Yates, who has thousands of social media followers, was still actively posting on Facebook as of Thursday. Inside Edition Digital reached out to Yates on Facebook on Friday for comment.
