DCF Involved After Mom Refuses To Get Rabies Shots For Her Kids

A Winter Park woman said she won't get her children rabies shots, even though the Orange County Health Department insists on it. Now, the Health Department has contacted the Department of Children and Families.

UPDATE: Kids Removed From Mother's Care

Eyewitness News first reported on a bat infestation inside her home on 812 Margaret Square last month.

Deborah St. Charles recalls the night her son tried to protect the family from a bat that was flying frantically around the apartment in the Meadows subsidized housing in Winter Park. Another time, one dive-bombed on the bed next to her 3-year-old.

Though they were all terrified, she said, the bats never bit them or scratched them. Despite urging from the Health Department, she doesn't want her family to get the precautionary rabies shots.

"They're basically telling me, if I refuse to take the rabies shots, they'll take me to court to get my kids to take the shots, whether I refuse it or not," she said.

St. Charles admits she is distrusting of health officials ever since her youngest had a serious problem with vomiting up blood in his first year. She said no one could correctly diagnose the problem. Now she fears he could have another problem if he takes the shots.

But Orange County Health Department spokesperson Bill Toth said it's possible they may not realize they were bitten.

"So small you wouldn't even know it," Toth said.

And, he said, says there have been several cases nationwide, including one in Connecticut, where bats that got into people's homes unknowingly bit the youngsters and they died. And once any symptoms appear, it's too late.

"Rabies is almost always fatal," Toth said.

Still, that isn't swaying St. Charles, who said she will rely on her faith to protect her family, not any shots. And she's angry DCF will soon come knocking.

"What rights do I have? This is my child. I birthed these kids, carried them for nine months," she said.

DCF will visit St. Charles and try to persuade her to get the shots for her children. It could end up in court in a case that's never happened before in the Central Florida area.