Inside the 'sea of garbage' where two young girls were living
Two young children were living in squalid conditions before they were removed from their Adelaide home last week after a call led authorities to step in.
Neighbours claim the pair’s mother is a drug addict and say they have been trying to raise the alarm for years with no success.
It is hard to believe anyone could live in the conditions of the north-eastern suburbs home, but until a few days ago it was the putrid reality faced by two little girls.
Kristy-Lee Dixon told 7 News the home was filled with "rubbish and dirty nappies and food".
"Those poor kids," she said.
“It was like a sea of garbage. Like it had obviously been going on for quite some time, you know, to get to where it was at," her partner, Michael Topley, added.
The pair made the discovery last week after Mr Topley called the girls' mother about some money she owed him.
"And she wasn't really making much sense, so I've gone around there," he said.
"The kids are too little. They don't deserve to have to live in that s***.”
Mr Topley claims when the pair arrived, the children’s mother was high on drugs, passing in and out of consciousness.
She let them inside and that was when it hit them - first the foul stench, then the heartbreaking sight of her two daughters among all the mess.
"[The children] had that grey tinge to their skin and there was no brightness in them at all," Ms Dixon said.
They called the child protection department and on Wednesday the girls were taken away.
The couple feared for what could have happened if they had not come to help.
“I’m scared for them but at least I know they're going to survive," Ms Dixon told 7 News.
One neighbour told Seven News she had been contacting the department for five years trying to raise her concerns about the conditions inside the home.
The woman said the last time she called she was kept on hold for more than 20 minutes before being told there was nothing the department could do.
