I'm going to be very honest here, because I grew up right outside the Bronx during this time, and in a similar situation. This building is in the south Bronx, and 1993 was the end of the crack era. Crack, and heroin, hit this area hard. A lot of kids my age were raised by their grandmothers because their mothers became lost to the streets due to the drug life. It was not unusual for people in the south Bronx to move apartments often when they got evicted from one or couldn't keep the lights on. Sometimes if your daughter was involved with a dealer, he would pay the rent for you (or pay you in drugs, if you were also using) so you could watch her kids while she ran the streets and helped him sell.
I have a very strong feeling that's what happened here. This woman was likely looking after her grandkids. The police were overwhelmed with homicides. The children, described as severely mentally retarded, likely could not give any information as to who their mother was. Even if they were neurotypical and verbal, they probably did not know where she was. They got put into the system. Family may not have come forward if they feared LE due to their own illegal operations.
