Cancun, Q.R. — Personnel from the System for the Comprehensive Development of the Family (DIF) continue to shelter two girls abandoned by their mother. The girls, both under the age of three, were left on a Cancun city corner Wednesday by their mother who was seen running from the area.
People who saw the mother leave the baby and toddler on the corner before running away called police. Members of the state’s Specialized Group for Attention to Domestic and Gender Violence (GEAVIG) responded to the report, locating both abandoned children.
Police arrested the mother a few blocks away. The unnamed woman and her children have been identified as being Canadian. According to available information, she left the children on the corner because she does not have the financial means to take care of them.
Marisol Sendo Rodríguez, the Director of the Sistema Para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia (DIF) Cancun says both children remain in protective care after being rescued from a street corner on Tulum Avenue June 26.
“The girls are fine. They were sheltered with us in the Temporary Assistance House, they are fine. Investigations are being carried out and, at first glance, the girls do not show any signs of abuse, but all the corresponding procedures are being carried out,” she reported.
The agency is looking for family members to take the children. “If they have a support network, then obviously all the investigations are carried out and if it is viable, they can keep the children.”
Sendo Rodríguez says the legal situation is under review by local authorities who will ensure the children remain in protective custody until the investigation is complete, which she says, includes psychological opinions on the mother.
According to Sendo Rodríguez, the two children are currently in DIF care with another 108.
It is not known if the Canadian woman and her two children were visiting the area or if they reside in Cancun.
