Cobb sisters removed from filthy house face many obstacles

By Mark Davis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Patrick Shannon splashed bleach on the stained floor, sending roaches scurrying. The liquid cut the stench that had been building for years in the little house. Shannon bent and mopped, straightened, poured more bleach, mopped again. He'd been at it since daylight at the house on Dogwood Drive in Marietta.

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Bita Honarvar, bhonarvar@ajc.com Patrick Shannon (left) and his friend Calvin Carter work to clean the Marietta home of James and Anne Cardona. They're shown here in the couple's bedroom. Shannon is James Cardona's step-brother. The couple's four- and five-year-old daughters were removed from the home after being found living in squalor and dangerously overweight.

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Bita Honarvar, bhonarvar@ajc.com The bathroom of James and Anne Cardona's Marietta home.

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Bita Honarvar, bhonarvar@ajc.com The front entrance of the Marietta home of James and Anne Cardona.

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When he opened the front door earlier that morning, the Kennesaw resident tried to ignore the conditions inside, but failed. Though he'd visited the house numerous times, Shannon threw up. "The smell," he said. "It was that bad."

Just as bad, police say, is what went on in the dingy white house with the broken awnings and overgrown back yard. On Aug. 16, police responding to a call at the house discovered two preschool-age girls suffering from shocking neglect. They beheld a 5-year-old who weighed nearly 160 pounds -- more than triple what a girl that age should weigh. Her 4-year-old sister, clad in a diaper soggy with urine, weighed 89 pounds -- more than twice what she should weigh. Their teeth were rotted, their feet black with dirt. Lice wiggled in their matted hair.

It's not clear if the children had ever attended school. Neighbors said they didn't communicate well. They lived in a bedroom with stained walls and spider webs hanging in dusty wisps from the corners. They'd decorated it with stickers of fairies and horse figurines. Officers arrested their parents, James and Anne Cardona, and charged them with felony child cruelty and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor.

Anne Cardona, 35, posted bail on a $5,000 bond, only to be re-arrested after she told officials she needed to return home to care for her mother -- a lie, authorities say. James Cardona, 31, remains in Cobb County jail on a $5,000 bond. They are scheduled for a Sept. 9 probable cause hearing in Cobb County Superior Court. "He [James Cardona] has been charged," said Scott Halperin, James Cardona's court-appointed lawyer."He has not been indicted." Anne Cardona also has court-appointed counsel.

The girls are in state custody. Officials also took from the home Gloria Searcy, Anne Cardona's frail, often wheelchair-dependent mother. The woman, who owns the house, had bedsores, officers reported.The aghast officers took careful note of what they found -- huge spiders, clothes everywhere, bare mattresses lying on stained floors. The reek of dirt and decayed food and excrement. Dogs in pens, cats prowling in the trashy yard. And, everywhere, roaches -- on the walls and falling from the ceiling, racing across the floor and hiding under unwashed pots and pans.

Shannon, 30, James Cardona's stepbrother and the girls' uncle, tried to ignore the vermin as he cleaned the house, hoping to get it in good enough shape so that Searcy can return to it. He leaned against a kitchen counter; behind him, taped to a sagging cabinet door, was a 2007 calendar. He'd urged the parents to feed their children better, to clothe and keep them clean, Shannon said. Shannon sighed. He called the cops on his stepbrother and sister-in-law. "I think," he said, "that I've been seeing this coming for a long time.

A long recovery

The girls for now are the responsibility of the state Department of Human Resources. The agency will determine what sort of care the duo needs and likely would participate in any court cases or custody hearings the parents face. No one from the department could be reached for comment. Others who are familiar with child-care issues say the girls will need more than soap and water to begin normal lives. The two might have a lot of social and psychological catching up to do, they say.Wayne Drummond, executive director of the Georgia County Welfare Association, called the case troubling and complex. The girls, according to neighbors and family, rarely played with other kids. If that's true, said Drummond, the girls will have to learn to deal with other children.

In time, they could be like other kids, he said. "Hopefully, they'll be able to be children." The girls are young, and that increases their chances of full recovery, said Gerald Augustin of Alpharetta. A licensed clinical psychologist, he periodically testifies in criminal abuse cases. One case with similarities to this, he said: Authorities near Augusta two years ago discovered a family with children, ranging from toddler to teens, living in poverty. None of the children, said police, had been to school. Augustin, who did psychological profiles of the youngsters, said they thrived after moving into foster care. If the Marietta sisters end up in foster care, he said, they could fare just as well. "The medical stuff can be taken care of," Augustin said. "I think they [sisters] will have plenty of time to recover" from any social or developmental problems.

The girls also face physical issues, said Bonnie Lockwood, a Cleveland counselor who specializes in child welfare. The overweight girls may face taunts from their peers, she said. "Children," she said, "are not kind to each other."

Seeking custody

Counselors say parents found guilty of neglect must prove they are willing to change if they want to reclaim their children. James Cardona wants his children back, said Halperin, his lawyer."The allegation is that they were cruel by reason of neglect," he said. "I'm not sure that neglect is a crime." The girls also have a say-so, Augustin said. "They [the sisters] can say, I don't want to go back." Shannon, the girls' uncle, last week asked court officials for temporary custody of his nieces. Joining him was his sister, Frances Cantrell, who said she'd also warned the couple to clean the home. A judge denied their request.

Shannon said he would keep trying to get custody. "I have been here since the day they were born," he said. "They're family." As he spoke, Shannon stacked some letters and old photos on a bed so he could clean another floor. Atop the pile was a color shot, its edges curling in the humidity. Taken last year, it depicted two girls; their images smiled up at their uncle. Shannon paused for a moment, then turned to his mop. It left a shiny trail on the dirt-darkened floor.