--- description: The boys were left to fend for themselves while an uncle only checked in every few days title: Twin 9-Year-Old Boys Left Basically Alone for Months in New Hampshire image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt254c16dfaec693d1/69877b8a35ba6f4a6cc06ae7/manchester-new-hampshire.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Twin 9-Year-Old Boys Left Basically Alone for Months by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 23, 2015 1:15 PM CUT  An empty playground is seen at an apartment complex, Jan. 22, 2015, in Manchester, N.H. where authorities say twin 9-year-old boys were left mostly alone for four months after their parents took three siblings to Nigeria and left an uncle to care for them. An empty playground is seen at an apartment complex, Jan. 22, 2015, in Manchester, N.H. where authorities say twin 9-year-old boys were left mostly alone for four months after their parents took three siblings to Nigeria and left an uncle to care for them.Jim Cole—AP by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 23, 2015 1:15 PM CUT Twin 9-year-olds [were left virtually on their own](http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/22/new-hampshire-twins-home-alone/22202579/ "undefined") for four months in a Manchester, N.H. apartment where an uncle would only occasionally check in on them. The boys’ parents and three siblings left for Nigeria in July with the intention of returning the next month, but were delayed, the Associated Press reports. In the mean time, their 25-year-old uncle, Giobari Atura, was supposed to stay with the boys. Instead, he says he checked in on them every few days. Police finally became involved in November when the boys’ school alerted them that they’d been living alone, getting themselves up in the morning and taking the bus to eat breakfast and lunch at school. The only edible food found in the apartment was ramen. The twins were initially placed in foster care, but have now been returned to their parents, who came back to the U.S. shortly after learning of the situation. While Atura was charged with endangering the welfare of a child in December, the parents will not be charged since they left their sons in the care of a relative. \[[_AP_](http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/22/new-hampshire-twins-home-alone/22202579/ "undefined")\] _Read next:_ [_Celiac Disease Among UK Kids Has Tripled_](http://time.com/3679241/celiac-disease-among-uk-kids-has-tripled/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3680043/twin-9-year-alone-for-months/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3680043/twin-9-year-alone-for-months/"},"headline":"Twin 9-Year-Old Boys Left Basically Alone for Months","datePublished":"2015-01-23T13:15:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:49:44.143Z","description":"The boys were left to fend for themselves while an uncle only checked in every few days","url":"https://time.com/3680043/twin-9-year-alone-for-months/","keywords":["new hampshire","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt254c16dfaec693d1/69877b8a35ba6f4a6cc06ae7/manchester-new-hampshire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt254c16dfaec693d1/69877b8a35ba6f4a6cc06ae7/manchester-new-hampshire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Kids Home Alone","caption":"An empty playground is seen at an apartment complex, Jan. 22, 2015, in Manchester, N.H. where authorities say twin 9-year-old boys were left mostly alone for four months after their parents took three siblings to Nigeria and left an uncle to care for the","creditText":"Jim Cole—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3680043/twin-9-year-alone-for-months/","name":"Twin 9-Year-Old Boys Left Basically Alone for Months"}}]}] ```