DALLAS -- Children found starving inside a Dallas hotel bathroom likely will be placed in their maternal grandmother's care pending the completion of a home study and background check, a judge ruled Friday.

The judge concurred with an attorney for the children that it was in their best interests.

Juvenile district court Judge Cheryl Lee Shannon ordered Child Protective Services to look into the suitability of the Tampa, Fla., home of Ruth Leon, the children's grandmother. The agency will work with its counterpart in Florida.

The four children will remain together in foster care in the meantime. Their mother and her boyfriend were indicted last week on abuse charges and remain in the Dallas County Jail. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for November that could begin the process of severing their parental rights.

In July, police found the three oldest children shut inside a hotel bathroom and believe they were there for at least nine months. The 11-year-old girl and her 10- and 5-year-old half brothers were emaciated and filthy, officials said. A fourth child, a 1-year-old girl, was healthy and unharmed.

A doctor said the children appeared to have been starved and that their condition was life-threatening. The 11-year-old said she had been sexually assaulted, and the eldest son was covered in bruises from a beating authorities said was delivered by his mother's boyfriend.

"They are all together in the same foster home, which we think is the best thing for them," said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services.

Mary Macias, the court-appointed attorney for the children, said the biological fathers of two of them were ruled out for custody because they have criminal backgrounds.

Leon declined to comment after the hearing. In previous interviews with The Associated Press, she said her grandchildren lived with her for several years in Florida. After their mother moved to Fort Myers, Fla., Leon visited them every couple weeks until they moved to Texas.

"The children are very comfortable with their grandmother," Gonzales said.

During the hearing, Macias gave an update on the children's progress to the judge. The children were hospitalized for more than a week after their initial rescue but their health has since stabilized. They are receiving counseling, gaining weight and "doing great and very happy," Macias said.

They have also enrolled in school. The oldest girl told authorities in July that they had not attended in several years.

Also in attendance at the hearing was Abner Santiago and his wife, Sonia, the brother and sister-in-law of the children's mother. They drove about 1,200 miles from the Cleveland area in July to check on the children, a visit that led to the police rescue.

"They're doing excellent," Abner Santiago said of the children.

The mother, 30-year-old Abneris Santiago, was indicted last week on three charges of injury to a child. Each is a first-degree felony punishable by at least five years in prison.

Her boyfriend, 37-year-old Alfred Santiago, was indicted on the same three charges, plus a charge of continuous sexual abuse, which carries a minimum 25-year sentence.

The couple has the same last name but are not married. They have not entered pleas, according to court records.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1217836.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor