by
Kelli Bryant (Sheriff's photo)
In what seemed like an obvious decision, an Oakland County Circuit Court judge ruled Monday that Kelli Bryant, who left her three children to live on their own for years in a Pontiac home of squalor, with trash, feces, and cobwebs, should no longer have parental rights.
"Mom, at this point, is still unable to provide a safe home environment," said Judge Lisa Langton during a hearing, according to the Detroit News. "As far as we know, she's still struggling with substance abuse. I don't know if she has a job. I know she hasn't provided any financial support for the child, she doesn't have a suitable home, and the bond with the child has diminished over time," Langton said Monday.
The children now live with their maternal grandfather.
Early last year, authorities discovered the three children—two girls, 12 and 13, and a boy, 15—living in squalor. They survived on weekly drop-offs of prepared food that the mother or a stranger left on the front porch. The mother provided no soap or toilet paper.
"The daughters were hiding in a bathroom that was filled with feces, piles of trash, and was completely nonfunctional, while her son was hiding in another room," Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said in February 2025. "Police were astonished to find anyone in the location because it appeared to be uninhabitable, with piles of garbage and refuse several feet high, including large amounts of human excrement."
Last December, Bryant pleaded no contest to three counts of welfare fraud in Oakland County Circuit Court, meaning she did not admit guilt but accepted the conviction. She still faces three counts of first-degree child abuse.
