CUTLER BAY, Fla. – Five children who disappeared from a Cutler Bay foster home have been found safe.
Miami-Dade police Detective Robin Pinkard said the siblings -- ages 16, 14, 13, 6 and 5 -- were found Friday in Florida City.
She said the siblings were in the care of the Children's Home Society in Cutler Bay when they walked out of the building without the case manager's knowledge Thursday.
They were identified as Takira Brown, Nehemiah Brown, Takiya Brown, Tamyiah Brown and Jeremiah Hightower.
Police said a judge ruled Thursday that the children should be removed from the custody of their adoptive grandmother and placed into the custody of the Department of Children and Families. She said the children asked to go to the bathroom while the case worker was doing paperwork. When workers went to check on the kids, they were gone.
Takiva Brown told Local 10 News that her children called her and said they were running away, telling her that they weren't going to let anyone split them up.
"It was five kids, and there's a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old, and these kids are walking down U.S. (Highway) 1," Takiva Brown said.
Takiva Brown said she fed them, put them to bed and called police, telling them that she did nothing wrong.
The children's grandmother blames the Department of Children and Families.
"I don't even understand how did they even were allowed to get to the front door without somebody knowing that they was there," Carolyn Lauger said.
Takiva Brown said she lost custody of the children when she was living on the streets, but she has turned her life around and wants her children back.
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