Parents facing neglect charges after 7 children found starving with 'maggot-infested hair': report

Seven children were found being neglected in a Pennsylvania mobile home, with some having "maggot-infested hair" and almost all of them showing serious signs of malnutrition, according to a local news report.

Authorities arrested the two parents, who went unnamed to protect the identities of the child victims involved, and charged them with felony child endangerment and neglect, according to USA Today. The parents are 37 and 47, and the children involved are all under 17, according to the report.

"Police reported the children, ages 4 to 16, lived in squalid conditions in a three-bedroom mobile home in Sellersville, about 38 miles north of Philadelphia," the outlet reported. "When police responded to the home, they found the children living with their parents and nearly three dozen animals including rats, dogs, rabbits and reptiles, the Bucks County Courier Times, part of the USA TODAY Network reported."

While the animals on the property were found in good condition, USA Today reported that many of the children had rotting teeth, poor eyesight, and maggot-infested hair.

"According to police, all but one of the children showed signs of serious malnutrition and other medical issues including rotting teeth, low kidney function, COVID-19, acute viral syndrome, poor eyesight, ringworm, matted and maggot- infested hair and speech impediments," reporters Jo Ciavaglia, Michele Haddon, and Natalie Neysa Alund wrote Friday. "None of them have attended formal school, authorities said, and some did not know their birth dates and had to be told how old they were."

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The media report further said the kids involved said they were told it was "school" when their "mother passed around a smartphone to each child," citing a source familiar with the case.

"As of Friday, the children remained in foster care, while their parents remained free on $10,000 bail," according to the report.