Four PA Siblings - 1 to 9 yo - Westmoreland County PA

JEANNETTE, Pa. -- Police in Westmoreland County are investigating after four foster children -- all under the age of 9 -- were found hitchhiking to escape an allegedly abusive home.

Drivers in Jeannette alerted police to the boys -- ages 9, 7, 5 and 3 -- trying to catch a ride on Route 130. Police said the kids had apparently climbed a chain-link fence to get out.
"The 9-year-old explained that they were trying to hitch back to Pittsburgh to be with their dad, and that all of them were tired of being abused at their foster home," Jeannette Police Officer Justin Scalzo said.
The children had been placed with two sisters, Sharon and Shirley Baker, on Harrison Avenue in Jeannette.
The children told police they were being abused and had to leave the home.
When police found the children, they said that the 3-year-old was wearing a soiled diaper and no shoes, and that all four children were dehydrated and hungry.


Police shared photos with Channel 4 Action News that show marks found on the 3-year-old's back.
"To me, it looks like he was beat with some type of object," Scalzo said.
The children told police they were locked out of the home daily and ordered to stay in the yard, only coming inside at meal time. Although the yard is fenced in, neighbors told police the kids easily climbed in and out, Miele reported.
"Where are the parents at? How do you not know four kids are missing from your house?" Scalzo said. "Even if they are playing in a fenced-in back yard, how do you not have supervision out there? How do you not hear them playing?"
The boys were taken to the police station, where firefighters gave them something to drink and Scalzo's wife fed them dinner.
Nearly six hours went by with no phone calls from the foster parents and no help from the child services agencies in Westmoreland or Allegheny counties or the council of the Three Rivers American Indian Center, which placed the boys with the Baker sisters.
The Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families said it's investigating why its subcontractor, Three Rivers, took so long to get there.
The Westmoreland County Children's Bureau had no comment.
The boys -- as well as their 1-year-old sister, whom they had to leave behind when they decided to hitchhike -- have all been removed from the Bakers' custody and placed in new foster homes.
Both of the Bakers have been charged with endangering the welfare of children. Allegations of physical abuse are still being investigated.

Police have charged two western Pennsylvania sisters with child
endangerment after their four foster children , ages 9, 7, 5, and 2 ,
were seen hitchhiking.The children told police in Jeannette that
they climbed a chain-link fence to get away from the home of
72-year-old Shirley Baker and 62-year-old Sharon Baker. One of the
children told police they were hoping to hitch a ride to Pittsburgh,
about 25 miles west, because they were hungry and thirsty after being
locked out of the house most of the day Monday.A motorist found
the children about 6 p.m. that day and, on Thursday, police charged the
Baker sisters. Their home telephone number is unlisted and they were
awaiting arraignment early Friday.The children have been placed in different foster care settings.