A great-grandmother was granted temporary custody of the three children living in a house that was described as dirty and dangerous by investigators.
Conditions inside the home at 1810 NW 46th Street were described as deplorable by a Department of Children and Families investigator at the custody hearing.
A DCF investigator was driving by the house Wednesday when she saw a 5-year-old trying to pull back a 1-year-old who was walking onto the street, Miami Police said.
The investigator stopped the car to help the children. When she took them into the house, she found nails and sharp object within reach along with containers of old food sitting open in the kitchen.
When the mother of the 1-year-old returned to the home more than an hour later, she said she had just gone to the store for half an hour while she was watching her daughter and someone else's 5-year-old, police said. Naquisha Thomas, 24, was arrested and charged with child neglect.
The great-grandmother said she was unaware of the conditions in the Miami home because she would always pick up the children without going inside.
Judge Rosa Figarola told Thomas at the Friday that neither she nor the children's father could take them anywhere while in the great-grandmother's care.
"If at any point in time you let mom take the children anywhere, or the father, then that will cause me to put the children in foster care," Figarola said.
Figarola was also concerned about past criminal charges against grandfather Antonio Brinson.
"You are not to drive the children anywhere, sir. Do you understand," Figarola said.
Brinson is also not allowed to be alone with the children.
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At the hearing, it was also revealed that the 1-year-old left home alone had a tumor growing on her face that would require another surgery.
The parents were allowed supervised visits with the children.
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