One day, a man went to his partner’s home in Cheshire, England, and heard an unusual sound. The sound led him to a bedroom, where he unexpectedly discovered a baby hidden in a drawer. Though he regularly stayed at his partner’s home, he had never seen the baby before.
A social worker was later called to the house, where she discovered that the baby was extremely malnourished because she had been hidden in the drawer for three years.
More from CafeMom: Video of Teen’s Outburst at AT&T Store After Her Mom Deactivated Her Phone Goes Viral
The child had no interaction with anyone other than her mother.
Because the mom of the baby apparently hid her in a drawer for three years, she didn’t have contact with anyone, per the Mirror. The baby was left completely alone when the mom was not at home, according to the news outlet.
The mom primarily fed her baby milky cereal using a syringe, which resulted in malnourishment and dehydration. She also exhibited other signs of neglect, including matted hair and skin rashes, the BBC reported.
She looked like a months-old baby instead of a 3-year-old toddler when she was discovered.
The social worker who went to the home experienced “overwhelming horror” when she saw the child, who had been kept in a drawer from 2020 to 2023, per the BBC. The child reportedly looked more like a 7-month-old baby instead of a toddler because of malnourishment.
Judge Steven Everett said the child is now “an intelligent little girl who is now perhaps slowly coming to life, from what was almost a living death in that room,” according to the BBC.
More from CafeMom: Everyone Showed Up for a Baby Shower & They Were in for the Biggest Surprise — It Was a Wedding!
The baby's mom has other children.
The mom, who has not been named, hid the baby from her partner and her other children. According to ABC 7, the mom claimed her baby was not kept in the drawer all the time and that the drawer was always open. However, she also told police officers that the baby was “not part of the family.”
According to the BBC, she was reportedly an adequate parent to her other children.
The social worker said the mom did not show any emotions when she described keeping her daughter in a drawer.
When confronted about the situation, the mom didn’t seem to show any emotion, according to the social worker who spoke to her about it. “I looked at her mum and asked, ‘Is this where you keep her?’” the social worker said, per the BBC. “The mother replied matter-of-factly, ‘Yes, in the drawer.'”
Though the mom's motive is not completely clear, an 'exceptional set of circumstances' seemed to contribute.
The mom reportedly didn’t know she was pregnant prior to giving birth and felt “really scared,” ABC 7 reported. Additionally, her relationship with the child’s father was abusive, so she didn’t want him to find out about the baby. The mom’s mental health and the COVID-19 lockdown were also cited as factors that could’ve had a significant impact on the mom.
The mom has been arrested and sentenced.
Though the woman was reportedly a good mother to her other children, they will no longer live with her. The mom was sentenced to seven years and six months in jail for “extreme neglect,” the BBC reported.
When sentencing the mom, Honorary Recorder of Chester Judge Steven Everett said, “You starved that little girl of any love, any proper affection, any proper attention, any interaction with others, a proper diet, much-needed medical attention.”
He added that “the consequences for (the child) were nothing short of catastrophic – physically, psychologically, and socially,” per the Mirror.
