Mystery Girl’s Relatives Come to Her Rescue

It could be a month or more before a little girl who was left with transients while her mother burgled a home can be reunited with relatives, authorities said this week.

The identity of 3-year-old Felicia Alvarado--unknown since October, when she was left by her mother with transients in Hawthorne--was determined last week, when a relative identified her from a photograph published in the Los Angeles Times and police found her mother in jail.

“She is doing fine, she seems relatively unaffected by this whole thing,” the girl’s foster mother, Susan Reeves, said this week. “I am not really sure she knows what is going on. She seems really happy here and it sort of breaks my heart.”

A picture of the girl published last Friday was seen by a great-aunt who lives in Carson. The aunt, who gave only her first name, Amelia, telephoned the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services, which arranged a meeting at the girl’s foster home in Chatsworth.

Amelia said she had not seen the girl since July.

“I wasn’t looking for her, really, because I didn’t know she was missing,” Amelia said. “But every time the phone rang, I thought it might be her mother.”

The girl’s grandfather in Modesto wants to take custody of Felicia, said Catherine Duke, a children’s services supervisor.

But Duke said it will take at least a month before the county Juvenile Court decides whether to award him custody of the girl. In the meantime, Felicia will continue to live with Reeves and her husband, Bob, and a 6-year-old girl whom the Reeves are in the process of adopting.

The identity of the little girl had been a mystery since Oct. 20, when she was dropped off at the Hawthorne Police Department by two transients. They told police the girl’s mother had left her with them earlier in the day, promising to return shortly.

Last week, about the time that the great-aunt, her husband and her daughter were heading toward Chatsworth to see the child, Hawthorne Police Detective David Ball received a call from the county Probation Department.

It turned out that Felicia’s mother had been arrested the night of Oct. 20, while burglarizing a Hawthorne house, just a few hours after she left Felicia with the transients, Ball said. The mother, known variously as Josie, Josefina and Esther Alvarado--pleaded guilty to a felony count of burglary and is in Sybil Brand Institute awaiting sentencing scheduled for next week.

Hawthorne police were called after the mother met with her probation officer, mentioned Felicia and asked if the department knew of her whereabouts.

However, Amelia and the other relatives from Carson arrived at the Reeves’ home before Ball contacted Children’s Services with confirmation of the girl’s identity. When at first Felicia did not seem to recognize her great-aunt or family photographs, Duke sent Amelia home with no promises.

“She had no problem recognizing me,” Amelia protested as she paused at the door, her eyes moist. “She was a little slow at first, but that’s understandable considering what she’s been through.”

Felicia grinned broadly as Amelia hugged and kissed her goodby.

“We have to be very careful,” Duke said. “But I think this is going to work out all right.”

Minutes after the relatives left, Duke received a call from Children’s Services spokeswoman Ray LaMotte, who brought news of the Police and Probation departments’ confirmation of Felicia’s identity.

Susan Reeves appeared to be in no hurry to part with Felicia.

“I really became attached to her in the month and a half she has been with me,” Reeves said. “It’s like some kids, they really steal your heart away.”