Police: Mom left her kids alone for weeks

A New Caney mom is wanted by the Roman Forest Police Department after she was accused of abandoning her two children at their home for two months with limited food and medical supplies.

Raven Yates, 31, left her 12-yearold daughter and 3-year old son at their home on Maplewood Ridge Drive in New Caney on Sept. 28, said Roman Forest Police Chief Stephen Carlisle.

The children were left with some food but ran out shortly, he said. The daughter then contacted her father and Yates’ ex-husband for food.

He was working in California at the time and was sending food through apps such as Doordash, Carlisle said.

The daughter would call him regularly, telling him her mother was working, he said.

He told police that on Nov. 14, Yates' mother said that she saw her daughter in Mobile, Ala., but that she did not have the children with her, Carlisle said.

The father then met with Roman Forest police officers outside the home, where it appeared the daughter was taking care of the son during the mother’s absence, Carlisle said. There were no traces of food, and the son’s bed smelled of urine, he said.

“Surprisingly, the 12-year-old did a really good job, because both of them were really healthy,” Carlisle said. “But still, it’s dangerous to leave a 12-yearold with a 3-year-old without medical supplies, without resources, without supervision (and) without food.”

The daughter did not tell the father immediately out of fear of her brother being left alone, he said. The 3-year-old has a different father, he said.

Yates’ also had a 14-year-old daughter who ran away from home early September, Carlisle said. All three children have been united in Alabama and are staying with Yates’ mother.

A warrant for Yates’ arrest was issued by the Roman Forest police agency on Dec. 6, and is working with the Mobile Police Department to locate her, he said.

The agency didn’t put out a release earlier in fear that it would tip her off that she was wanted, Carlisle said.

Yates is charged with two counts of abandoned endanger child without intent to return.

The family was living in the county for nearly a year, Carlisle said. All three children were not registered in a Texas school system.