In February 2023, a baby girl, hidden in a drawer since birth, was found malnourished with matted hair and an untreated cleft palate, according to the British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The child, born in 2020 in Chester, U.K., was discovered by the mother’s partner. After hearing noises he suspected came from a baby, he investigated and found the infant in a drawer under a divan bed. Shocked, he informed his own mother, who then contacted the defendant’s mother. Social workers and police were notified and arrived on the scene, and later gave emotional accounts of what they witnessed.
“Having been a social worker since 2006, I have never experienced such an extreme case of blatant child neglect and cruelty. The mother showed no remorse or emotion, which I found extremely difficult to comprehend,” said one social worker.
The mother cannot be identified due to reporting restrictions designed to protect the children involved.
Mother’s unclear motives
The mother fed the baby milky Weetabix through a medicine syringe and changed the nappies but left the child in the drawer for hours while she went to work or took her other children to school. The mother told police she hid the pregnancy due to being in an abusive relationship with the baby’s father.
However, social workers described her as emotionally detached. One said: “(The baby) stared at me and was rocking back and forth. I looked at her mum and asked, ‘Is this where you keep her?’ The mother replied matter-of-factly, ‘Yes, in the drawer.’ I was shocked the mother did not show any emotion and appeared blasé about the situation. She stated no one else had ever seen the child.”
Baby could not crawl or talk
When discovered, the child could not crawl, walk, talk, or make communicative noises. She showed repetitive “self-soothing” movements such as rocking, had swollen feet, major nappy rash, frail limbs, and an untreated cleft lip and palate. Medical evaluations placed her developmental age at 10 months, though she was 35 months old.
Within two weeks of hospital admission, the baby began vocalising, seeking comfort, and crying to express her needs. She has since undergone two surgeries for her cleft palate and continues to improve, though further medical interventions are required.
Mother jailed for cruelty
The mother pleaded guilty to four charges of child cruelty at Chester Crown Court on Oct. 9, 2024. On Nov. 26, she was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison.
“This child has never had a birthday present, a Christmas present, or any interaction with her siblings,” said Senior Crown Prosecutor Rachel Worthington of CPS Mersey-Cheshire. “She hadn’t known daylight or fresh air and didn’t respond to her name when found.”
Worthington added: “The motive behind the mother’s behaviour is still not clear, but our role is to bring the person responsible to justice. That has now been done, and it is our profound hope the victim recovers to live as full a life as possible.”
Children with cleft palate face increased abuse risk
A 2015 study by the Children’s Learning Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston found that infants with birth defects are at greater risk of abuse. The analysis of three million children revealed that babies with cleft lip and palate were 40 per cent more likely to be abused by their second birthday than those born without such defects.
Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports a prevalence of orofacial clefts in one in every 1,000–1,500 births. The organization, along with Smile Train, a cleft-focused non-profit, which has provided cleft surgeries to over two million people since 1999, highlights the stigma, isolation, and abuse faced by those with untreated clefts.
