The Roman Forest Police Department is seeking the public’s help in locating a mother who allegedly left her two young children home alone for weeks, Chief Stephen Carlisle told The Dallas Express.
The mother, 31-year-old Raven Yates, is in hot water with the authorities of Montgomery County, located north of Houston. Police say they discovered that her children — a girl aged 12 and a boy aged 3 — were without adult supervision from September 28 to November 14.
The children’s father works in California but pays for the family’s home, according to reporting by KPRC 2 Houston. He alerted local police that he suspected his children were without adult supervision after he kept receiving text messages from the 12-year-old asking him to send money for food.
“The kids are safe, and the kids have been safe since November 14,” Carlisle said in a phone call with The Dallas Express.
According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, 64% of child maltreatment fatalities result from confirmed cases of neglect, including deaths from drowning or unsafe sleep.
One hundred and ninety-nine child maltreatment fatalities were registered in 2021. There had been no CPI investigation prior to the child maltreatment fatality in 177 of these cases, according to a report by the DFPS.
“It’s a little bit irresponsible to leave a three-year-old in the care of a 12-year-old,” suggested Carlisle.
He added that Yates considers herself to be a public persona, which may help to locate her.
“She’s been active on social media, and she claims to be a public figure, I guess she recorded a couple of videos herself but I don’t think she’s as successful as she portrays to be,” said Carlisle.
People have taken to social media to express their thoughts on Yates’ actions.
One user, Debra Moore, wrote, “Want to know what she is really like look her up on instagram . Not exactly mom material .”
The condition of the home looked as if it had been taken care of by a child, police said. They also discovered that the children had not been enrolled in school for a year, KPRC 2 Houston reported.
Yates is believed to be somewhere in Mobile, Alabama, according to police. This belief is based on social media posts discovered by family members.
In fact, days before Yates’ disappearance, her eldest child, a 14-year-old, ran away from home and traveled to the children’s grandmother’s home in Mobile, according to Carlisle.
In Texas, 33,774 children were reported missing in 2021, according to the Texas Center for the Missing. Between 80 and 85% of these are believed to have been runaways.
Now, all three of Yates’ children are in the custody of their grandmother in Mobile and have been reported safe, Carlisle told The Dallas Express.
Chief Carlisle confirmed to The Dallas Express that his department is working with detectives in Alabama to apprehend Yates.
Yates has two warrants out for her arrest for two charges of abandonment or endangerment of a child without the intent to return.
The shocking reports and apparent flight from justice elsewhere in Texas come amid continued high rates of crime in Dallas and the metroplex, where the City Council has carried its hands-off approach to the 2022 crime wave into the new year.
