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This photo on the left just kills me. Pictured are 5-year-old Domini and 3-year-old Diani – little girls shown clutching disposable diapers after being abandoned Sunday on a Brooklyn sidewalk. Their mom, Dalisha Adams, allegedly left them there and then drove away. According to reports, an elderly couple found them wandering up and down the street hours later.
The older one, Domini, told officers their mother’s first name and that she was driving a white car. She also said they lived in “a blue house with flowers in front.”
Police went door to door in an attempt to identify the children and, late last night, they showed up at Adams’ apartment in the Breukelen public-housing complex on Glenwood Road near East 105th Street – around a mile and a half from where the girls were left. Adams, 26, has been charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
The New York Daily News reports that a neighbor of Adams said she often heard the mother screaming at the girls and their older sister. “She was always yelling at the kids, ‘Shut the f— up,’” she said. “One day, I heard her curse out the little baby, ‘I’ll punch you in the f—— face.”
Fortunately, the girls were not harmed, and they’ve been placed in the care of the Administration for Children’s Services (no word on whether there’s a father in the picture). It’s a heart-breaking story, to be sure, and I feel for these little girls. We hear horrible stories all the time – unfathomable ones – about mothers and children, and I’m just grateful that these two girls were found unharmed.
(Photo: nydailynews.com)
oh yeah, jus toss her kids out on the street with diapers and that is ok? some of you people have issues if she dint want them she should have took them to the police station or called cps…this woman needs her ass kicked…
101 days ago
[...] we wrote about Dalisha Adams, the 26-year-old mom who abandoned her two girls, aged 5 and 3, on a Brooklyn sidewalk Sunday afternoon (fortunately, the girls were found safe [...]
The fact that she didn’t murder her children doesn’t make this any better and this picture broke my heart. I can’t imagine the absolute panic these children must have felt. It’s so so so so so so heartbreaking.
It’s also heartbreaking that we actually say things like “well, at least she didn’t kill them”. This is such a horrible sign of the complete lack of support for parents who can’t afford help (be it a nanny, therapy, anything to feel less overwhelmed); the choices are abandoning kids or killing them?
This is just too sad. The whole situation.
It seems odd to me that it’s ok to post a picture of these two.
Anyway.
I believe that there photos were initially release to use to find their next of kin.
Honestly, while the story is sad, I’m glad that the mother did what she did. She was obviously incapable of caring properly for her children at this time, she perhaps felt her self control slipping and made the decision to leave them. The reports indicate they were noticed almost immediately–not hours later–by an elderly couple since the mother decided to leave them in a crowded area. CPS found NO signs of physical abuse on either of the girls. This sounds like a situation that could have benefited from improved safe haven laws that would have allowed this mother to drive her girls to a hospital or police precinct to keep them safe.
While I have no idea what the mother’s mindset was at the time she did this, it seems like this is a woman who does not have the support she needs to care for her children, who is stressed out and who reached a breaking point. Let’s focus on the fact that when she snapped she dropped her children off someplace away from her where they would be found (with clean diapers and warm clothing) instead of harming or killing them.
I agree 100%. People are gonna knock this woman, but she left them in a busy area where they would be easily found instead of in a dumpster after being murdered. I hope she gets the help she needs to get her kids back and help getting the resources to care for them.
Jen, I thought the exact same thing! This is a sad story but when I think of the alternatives, I’m just grateful that the girls are okay. And, like you, I also think how desperate this woman must’ve been to abandon her children this way. Makes me extra grateful to have the support that I do — lots of people out there aren’t so lucky — and we all know how easy it is to crack even WITH a ton support.
As someone who has struggled with fertility issues, I find these stories inexplicable! We, and so many like, us struggle to have children and some people just keep having them and throw them away. I just don’t get it!
And those poor kids want nothing more than to be loved bey their mom. So, so sad!
You have to wonder what the state of mind of these women are that they can’t take their kids to one of those “safe surrender” locations. Thank goodness that the two little girls are okay!
Unfortunately, the safe haven laws don’t exist everywhere, and generally only apply to infants. The laws vary, but in most I think the baby has to be less than 30 days old.
I hope those little girls are able to be placed in a home where they’ll get the love they need and deserve.
Safe Surrender locations are only for newborns. There are very few resources available for low income mothers in NYC, especially single mothers. When my oldest was a baby, I tried to find counseling in the city, and it took me months to find a doctor who would give me the reccomendations I needed.
I’m split on this one. On one hand, I am so glad that the mother realised she wasn’t coping and that she had to find somewhere else for the children.
On the other hand, a busy sidewalk is NOT a safe place! Who knows what kind of people were in the area. Why not take them to a hospital, or a child care centre or even drop them off outside a police station? The children appear (in the photo at least) to be well cared for, so surely she wanted them to be somewhere safe?
Agreed, that picture just brought me to tears. It’s so horrible.