Girls, 5 and 1, neglected by alcoholic mother ate styrofoam, wallpaper out of hunger before being rescued from squalid home: Police
Two Ukranian sisters who were recently rescued from a squalid home were so neglected and hungry they ate styrofoam and wallpaper to stay alive.
Little Diana and her sister Anya, aged five and one respectively, were living with their biological mother and her boyfriend in a filthy home in Dnipro, Ukraine. The girls were not fed properly by their 25-year-old mother—who cannot be named for legal reasons—and so they ate whatever they could find, doctors revealed.
On November 21, neighbors alerted the authorities out of concern, and the sisters were subsequently rescued from the residence.
"The woman and her boyfriend often quarreled and fought with each other," one neighbor told local media on condition of anonymity. "They constantly shouted at the children and did not take care of them. The girls were always dirty and neglected. There was always a horrible stench coming from their apartment," she added.
Responding officers said they were shocked to see the disgusting conditions the girls were living in. "It was awful. The toilet was not working at all in the flat and the family used the bathtub instead," a police source said. "The tub was covered with a thick layer of dirt and infested with worms."
"The girls got used to sleeping in filthy bedclothes, eat from unwashed dishes and play on the littered floor," they continued. "The stench in the rooms was horrific and it was difficult to breathe."
Both Diana and Anya were rushed to the hospital where they were diagnosed with malnutrition and lice.
"The girls' stool contains styrofoam, wallpaper, hair, and other objects," Paediatrician Liya Segeda said. "They ate everything they could find in the apartment. Here, in the hospital, the sisters saw a potty and clean bedclothes for the first time."
"We were shocked to see how they pounce on meals and eat hastily," she added.
Now, social services is planning to sue the mother as they seek to revoke her parental rights.
"The mother and her boyfriend are unemployed. They spent child benefits for living," police spokesperson Ludmila Kopylenko said. "The children ate properly once per month. Their mother spent the rest of the money on alcohol."