A three-month-old baby from Bogota has died after its mother abandoned the baby and its three siblings for a three-day holiday, reported local media Thursday.
The director of the Bogota office of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) told media that mother Yadira Lopez left her four small children enclosed in a house in the capital’s southern locality Kennedy, while she went on holiday.
The child was found dead, presumably from asphyxia, and the three remaining children of one, three, and five years old were found in a grave condition of malnutrition and abandonment, said Lombo in an interview with Caracol Radio.
The children have been placed under the care of welfare while police decide on measures for a more permanent situation of care.
“The mother has to respond to the situation of the minors, but especially for what happened in this case of the child dying and the abandonment of the three others. We are continuing investigations because as of now it appears that the mother left her children while she traveled for the holiday weekend,” said Diego Molano, another director of the ICBF.
Authorities have begun to initiate two processes against the mother in accordance with Family Welfare, one criminal and one administrative. The criminal charge is for the abandoment of the children while investigations continue for the death of the three-month old.
The ICBF assured that the children would be given psychological care, “for the effects that this horrible act could cause them.”
In accordance with an ICBF abuse report of minors, in 2012 there have been 292 cases of pyschological abuse, 2,422 of physical abuse, 2,984 cases of negligence, and 76 of child abuse during pregnancy.