Feces and cereal covered the home's floor. Kids were eating it, Michigan officials say

The mayor of Warren, Michigan, described conditions in the home as "horrific, repulsive and inhumane" — and 11 children had been living there, he said.

Three children from the home were initially hospitalized Monday after they experienced a range of bizarre and unexplained symptoms, from vomiting and weakness to disorientation, city officials told the Detroit Free Press.

Hospital staff were worried the three kids had been exposed to some variety of chemical contamination, so they asked the city to send investigators to the children’s home. That’s when fire officials discovered eight more kids living in deplorable conditions at the house, Macomb Daily reports. The youngest of the 11 children was just 3 months old.

“We believe they were eating off the floor,” Fire Commissioner Wilburt McAdams told Macomb Daily. “There was feces all over the floor. There was food all over the floor, namely cereal. We don’t have another explanation” for the illness. McAdams said the house also reeked of urine.

The children were at home alone when city officials arrived, apparently in the care of a 10-year-old, who was the oldest of the children. There were no animals in the feces-covered home. All of the children were taken to Warren-area hospitals for treatment, city officials said. Fire officials told Macomb Daily that not all the children presented symptoms, but they were still hospitalized as a precaution because it was unclear what had made some of the kids sick.

“Some suffered from malnutrition and were obviously grossly underweight,” Warren Mayor Jim Fouts wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday. “It's hard to imagine that children have to live like this!”

Neighbors described the chaotic scene as police, medical responders and hazmat crews swarmed around the house.

“Really had me concerned when you see 2- to 5-year-olds being carried on a stretcher, screaming,” Robert Bauss told WJBK. “One of the little boys was terrified. He couldn't have been over 3 or 4, and he doesn't know what's going on.”

By Tuesday, all of the children except a 15-month-old had been discharged from the three hospitals where they had been taken, according to city officials. All of the children have been taken into child protective services custody. The 15-month-old is being cared for at Children’s Hospital in Detroit and is in stable condition, Macomb Daily reports.

The hospitals have not yet figured out what caused the children’s illness, Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer told Macomb Daily. Dwyer said police have handed the case on to county prosecutors to possibly bring abuse or neglect charges.

"In any society children have a basic right of proper nourishment and clean and safe living conditions," Fouts wrote, adding that he will encourage strong "punishment for the those responsible for this kind of a situation."

Two mothers lived together at the home with the 11 children, but they had only been there several weeks, WJBK reports. Dwyer said charges against both women are likely.

This story was originally published May 8, 2018 at 8:11 PM with the headline "Feces and cereal covered the home's floor. Kids were eating it, Michigan officials say."