A woman has been arrested for child neglect after police found her three children living in a squalid, bug-infested home with lice, ticks, and unsafe conditions

Jacqueline Daniel was arrested Monday

A woman has been arrested after investigators discovered her three children living in a squalid home infested with bugs.

Jacqueline Daniel, 43, faces three counts of child neglect, according to official records.

The mum was taken into custody Monday after bringing her 10-year-old son to the hospital under a Baker Act, officially known as the Florida Mental Health Act of 1971, reportedly because he “did not want to attend school,” according to arrest records.

The boy was found to have so many lice, lice eggs, and ticks on his scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes that he scratched until sores and scabs developed, court documents show. Investigators said Daniel admitted to knowing that both her son and daughter had lice but failed to treat them.

She also told a Department of Children and Families (DCF) investigator that she had not received any child support and was struggling to find better employment.

During the interview with the DCF investigator, officials were prompted to check on Daniel’s two other children, aged 15 and 9, at their home.

Upon arrival at the residence on West New York Avenue, deputies reported seeing cockroaches “falling off the ceiling” and crawling across the floors, furniture, and even on the children themselves.

Investigators also observed black mould patches on the walls, as well as cluttered piles of trash bags, junk items, and dirty sheets covering beds and floors, according to the affidavit.

When shown the children’s bathroom sink filled with foamy brown water, the Florida woman claimed she was unaware it was clogged and asked the children who was responsible, though neither child responded.

The two children found at the home were placed in the custody of a caregiver and taken to a hospital for treatment of their lice infestations, according to court documents.

Daniel was arrested and booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail but has since been released on general release, records show.

It comes after a couple were arrested after police found six children locked in their rooms in a raid on their ‘poo-smeared’ home.

Nathan Forczyk and Laura Forczyk were each arrested on six counts of child neglect. (Image: Brevard County Sheriff’s Office)

Officers say so bad was the smell inside the property in Palm Bay, US, that they struggled to breathe. Nathan Forczyk and Laura Forczyk were each arrested on six counts of child neglect. Both were bailed from the Brevard County Jail last week.

Police said when they entered the family home, they found the kids locked in separate bedrooms. The children did not have access to “food, water, or restroom facilities”, the force said as they detailed the harrowing conditions they found after breaking in.

“Each child had been locked in a bedroom containing only a child-sized potty training toilet,” police said. Describing the severely-deteriorated state of the property, police said large parts of walls were missing, with exposed live wiring – as well as an “overwhelming atmosphere” due to the “strong smell and visible presence of excrement”.

Officers deemed the home “unsafe, unsanitary, and hazardous” to the health of the youngsters. A Palm Bay Police Department spokesperson accepted the Forczyks were a family “in desperate need of assistance” and “down on their luck.”