From Oddity Central:
This is the heartbreaking story of a 9-year-old boy forced to live by himself in a cold apartment for two years after his mother moved in with her boyfriend 3 miles away.
French newspapers recently reported the sad and shocking story of a boy who lived alone in a low-income housing unit in Nersac for two long years after being abandoned by his mother who went to live with her boyfriend in a nearby town. Between 2020 and 2022, the unnamed boy survived mainly on sweets, canned food, and handouts from neighbors, while his mother lived comfortably at her boyfriend’s house, just 5 kilometers away, in Sireuil. She only came by once in a blue moon to check up on him and bring him some food, but she never stayed long and she never once took him to her place. It was because of these sporadic visits that neighbors took so long to realize that the boy was living by himself and finally call the police about it.
When the gendarmes entered the boy’s apartment in a low-income housing building in Nersac, they found an empty fridge, a trash can full of cake wrappers and empty food cans, and no sign of an adult – no clothes, no shoes, not even a toothbrush. After questioning the boy living there, they confirmed that he had been living by himself for two years and that his mother rarely came to visit.
Alexandra, the boy’s mother, was found at her boyfriend’s home in Sireuil, where neighbors didn’t even know she had a son, let alone see him. However, she adamantly denied abandoning the boy, instead claiming that he lived with her. Asked by the judge why the boy himself accused her of abandoning him for two years, all she could say was “I don’t know why he says that.”
None of the things Alexandra claims add up. She accuses the neighbors who confirmed her son’s story of being “problematic people”, and insists that she took the boy to school every day, even though her own phone tracking data shows otherwise. “I always forgot by phone at home,” she explained.
Here's the real shocker: this woman didn't receive any jail time. Her entire penalty is just six months with an ankle monitor, and then she's back to living freely. On the brighter side, the young boy is now in foster care and doing well. He's excelling as a student and shows remarkable maturity and responsibility. Tragically, it seems he had to grow up too fast, a direct consequence of his mother's neglect.
