Authorities Hold Boy, 2, Who Wandered From Carson Home

A 2-year-old boy found alone on a park bench Sunday will not be reunited with his mother until today so that child welfare workers can determine why the boy wandered away from his Carson home, authorities said.

The toddler, Filipo Talosaga, walked out the back door of his family’s condominium sometime after 9 a.m., according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Wahla. His mother had left him in the care of a 14-year-old niece who was also watching three other children.

An hour later, Filipo was found two blocks away by a passing motorist who spotted the boy sitting alone on a bench at Avalon and Sepulveda boulevards, Wahla said. The unidentified motorist took the boy to a guard’s station at a condominium complex, where sheriff’s deputies picked him up.

The child’s mother, Taumalatou K. Talosaga, 22, arrived at the station about 2 p.m. to pick up her son, but was told that he would be kept at MacLaren Juvenile Hall in El Monte until today, when caseworkers from the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services will try to determine why Filipo left home.

Wahla said that before children who leave home can be returned to their families, the children’s services department must conduct an investigation.