Florida mother charged with child neglect after Carnival cruise trip

Key Points:

• Nathalie Belizaire, a 29-year-old Florida mother, faces four felony child neglect charges after allegedly abandoning her four young children, including a 2-month-old infant, to take a three-day cruise to the Bahamas.
• The children were found alone and hiding in a bathroom at Belizaire’s North Miami Beach home by police, who were alerted by the father of the infant after noticing Belizaire’s absence and hearing the children inside.
• Belizaire claimed she left the children with their great-grandmother, but the grandmother denied receiving them, and Belizaire’s brother confirmed she asked him to check on the kids the night they were found.
• Belizaire was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers as she disembarked the cruise ship in Miami and denies the allegations, while a judge emphasized the seriousness of leaving young children unattended.
• She was ordered to stay away from the children pending investigation and has a $10,000 bond; this is not her first legal issue, as she was previously charged with aggravated battery in January 2025.