Brothers left home alone for weekend
05 Jan 2006, 9:18 am
I'm surprised at how no one has posted this yet. Doesn't seem to be the first time something like this happened.
CHILD ENDANGERMENT SUSPECTED BY COPS
By Kelli Phillips and Cassandra Braun
Knight Ridder
The oldest of two San Ramon boys left home alone over New Year's weekend was angry Wednesday that he was forced to care for his autistic brother by himself.
"I'm mad they left,'' Joshua Calero, 10, said. "I'm mad they didn't take us with them.''
Meanwhile, his father and stepmother, Jacob Calero, 39, and Michelle De La Vega, 32, who had been vacationing in Las Vegas, were escorted off their return flight to Oakland on Wednesday and held on suspicion of felony child endangerment, police Sgt. Brian Kalinowski said. The couple, who allegedly had hired a sitter for their puppies while they were away, both declined media interview requests.
Police, alerted by the boys' maternal grandmother, discovered Joshua and his 5-year-old brother, Jason, home alone Saturday night with cereal and frozen meals to eat and a cell phone number to call for emergencies.
Officers found the brothers asleep in their beds about 11 p.m. Saturday after their maternal grandmother, Libbey Holden, called police when she suspected they were alone.
The children were taken into custody by Children's Protective Services and later turned over to Holden, who took them to her Manteca apartment.
But a local relative and longtime friend of the wife's said she was baffled by the accusations -- and defended De La Vega, a dentist in Santa Clara.
"She is a very good person, a kind person who loves children,'' said sister-in-law Theresa Bernardo-De La Vega, a program director with the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Santa Clara County. "She wouldn't do anything like this.''
De La Vega, she said, had won an award for her work with a children's fair and was a Sunday School teacher at a church in the Philippines.
And De La Vega, who graduated from the University of Philippines in 2000 and owns Genesis Aesthetic Dentistry in Santa Clara, gave free toothbrushes to children from her clinic, Bernardo-De La Vega said.
Holden, who had cared for the boys over Christmas, said the couple had asked her to again watch the boys, but she declined because she had to work. "Michelle said, 'Just leave the boys at home, Joshua will watch Jason,' but I said no, that's against the law.''
Holden called De La Vega on Thursday to see if the couple were still going to Vegas and who would be babysitting. "She said they tried to find someone, but they couldn't,'' Holden said. "I said `Why don't you take the kids to Vegas and be together as a family, at least for New Year's,' but she said `We are newlyweds, we deserve a vacation.' ''
Calero and De La Vega married in April. The boys' biological mother, Maria Cristina Calero, died of breast cancer in June 2003. She was 31.
Holden will attend a temporary custody hearing in Martinez today. She would like to keep the boys at her house but says it would be hard.
"I want them to stay with me, but I'm older and I don't have the finances.''
Joshua says he frequently watches his younger brother while "Jacob and Michelle'' work, including every Saturday, or when they go places, sometimes overnight. Sometimes, Joshua said, looking after his younger brother is tiring.
"It's stressful,'' he said. "Sometimes it's harder for me because he's autistic and he can be stubborn at times and not listen to me.''
Frankly, I'm disguisted at this. The parents were supposed to be responsible for their children. Heck, they even take better care of their dogs than this!! ! I thought that children had to be at least 12 years old to be left alone and trained in first aid, just in case of a dire emergency.
_________________
Itaque incipet.
All that glitters is not gold but at least it contains free electrons.
05 Jan 2006, 12:54 pm
I don't know about first aid, but they are supposed to be 12 or older if watching anyone younger. I got into trouble for leaving my 11 and 9 year old sons alone while I worked, even though I was only blocks away (in a small rural town), they could visit or call me at any time, and the neighbor kept an eye on them, too! My sons are pretty self reliant and independent (they can cook a meal from scratch) so I was fairly annoyed.
However, I cannot believe these 'parents' left a 10 and 5 year old alone for five days! Kids that age shouldn't be left alone for even an hour, or at all. The only thing I can figure is that it's cultural (which isn't an excuse). In the Philipines it is common for the older children to take a LOT of respoinsibility for the younger ones. It sounds like the older boy was fairly mature and managed to handle it, but that doesn't make it right. If there had been an emergency or accident, he might not have known what to do, and it's just too much for a ten year old to deal with.
Ladysmokeater
Veteran
Joined: 21 Oct 2005
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,048
Location: North of Atlanta, South of Boston, East of the Mississippi, and West of the Atlantic
05 Jan 2006, 1:34 pm
During my practicum teaching, I worked with a teacher in an "inner city" school. One of the boys in the 2nd grade class was in foster care at the point that I was there, but heres why:
The mother was a druggie and hooker. She routienely left the 8yr old and the 5 year old in the house for weeks at a time with out supervision. She left them a container of money and instructed them to "get food" and not to tell anyone they were alone. The 8yr old went to the grocery store and bought food. the store was something like 2 miles away, so I think he road a city bus. He cooked oatmeal and I forget what else for supper for he and his brother. he kept their clothes clean and, I kid you not, Ironed so no one would notice they didnt have a parent around. They walked the 3 or 4 blocks to school, and home every day. One day the kid either ran out of money, or got into trouble and had to tell the guidence counciler what happend. they called protective services and located the mother. The kids were handed back to her, If I recall after a couple days, and she left them again. this time the social worker found out on a routine visit when the mother was gone. The boys were taken from her and put into foster care.
I never found out what happened after that.
Ever read the book "A Child Called IT"? you need to. It is about the WORST case of child neglect and abuse the state of Calafornia had ever seen. The boy eventually grew up, and wrote a couple books about what happened. It is appaling and sad in a way that I can not fully describe in words.
people that neglect or mistreat children should be shot.
