Florida Mother Arrested for Leaving Young Children Home Alone

A mother from Florida has been taken into custody after reportedly leaving her four young children unsupervised while she went on a three-night cruise to the Bahamas. This situation left the presiding judge quite astonished during the court hearing.

“Who goes on a cruise and leaves four little kids alone?” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer asked incredulously as Nathalie Belizaire, 29, appeared via video link with her attorney on Tuesday.

“The poor kids were home alone!” she exclaimed, as reported.

According to an arrest affidavit, Belizaire faces four charges of child neglect, having set sail for a cruise on Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Conquest, leaving her children to fend for themselves at her North Miami Beach home.

Lether Bazile, the father of the youngest child, a 2-month-old, informed police that Belizaire had originally intended to leave the children with their great-grandmother. However, when he visited her home on September 26—a day after the cruise began—he noticed children’s voices and the television on through the blinds.

He alerted the authorities, who discovered the children hiding in a bathroom, with no adult present. The children’s grandmother mentioned that Belizaire had stated she would drop them off somewhere, but that never happened.

Belizaire’s brother, Steven Borgella, told the police that she had messaged him on the same day, asking him to check on the kids.

She was arrested upon returning to port in Miami on September 28, but reportedly chose not to speak to the officers, which caught Judge Glazer’s attention when Belizaire’s attorney described the situation as “only an allegation,” a claim she disputes.

“They arrested her disembarking from the cruise ship!” Glazer responded, expressing disbelief.

“You can’t make this up!” she continued. “We’re just thankful nothing more serious occurred with those kids.”

The ages of the other two children were not disclosed immediately.

Belizaire was taken to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on four felony counts of child neglect without great bodily harm. She has been ordered to avoid contact with her children, and her bond was set at $10,000, based on court records.

This incident isn’t her first run-in with law enforcement. She faced charges of aggravated battery in January 2025 after allegedly pepper-spraying a neighbor, believing that the person was disturbing her daughter.