PONTIAC (WWJ) -- A Pontiac mother accused of abandoning her three children in inhumane conditions is now in proceedings concerning her parental rights.
Kelli Bryant pleaded no contest during a virtual hearing Tuesday morning before Oakland County Circuit Court judge Lisa Langton. This is the first step in the process of terminating her rights to the kids, who were found abandoned in a Pontiac apartment in February.
This Oakland County Prosecutor's Office says Bryant's plea means she has accepted that the court will make a determination regarding terminating her parental rights, and the case can now proceed to trial on that matter.
Authorities say the three children, who range in age from 13 to 16, had been living alone, in deplorable conditions, for four or five years.
During Tuesday's hearing, attorneys said the kids are doing relatively well and are living with their maternal grandfather. They continue to undergo therapy.
According to authorities, the children were discovered by police who were called by the landlord to conduct a welfare check back in February.
Officers found Bryant’s daughters, ages 12 and 13, hiding in a bathroom that was “filled with feces, piles of trash and completely non-functional,” according to Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. Their 15-year-old brother was hiding in another room.
McDonald said 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.”
Bryant allegedly told her kids they weren't allowed to leave the home, and prosecutors say the kids were afraid to break the rules. The children, who were in poor physical condition and no knowledge of personal hygiene, were taken to a hospital in an ambulance.
This case is separate from Bryant's criminal child abuse case. She remains jailed on three counts of first-degree child abuse.
Those charges are punishable by up to life in prison.
Editor's note: An early version of this story stated that Bryant agreed to give him her parental rights. The article has been corrected to show that she agreed that the court has jurisdiction, allowing the court to proceed in making that determination.