My girl friend teaches elementary school (second grade) in a poor area and has quite a few of these stories. In particular, this year, two kids just randomly appeared in her class. She was supposed to have, say, 19 kids, but there were 21. The two kids weren't on her list and the direction knew nothing about them. The parents had just dropped them at school and left.

They eventually got registered. I guess you'd call them half brothers? Basically, the father and mother each had one kid before they got together. The two kids were the same age.

They had issue. One clearly needed medication, but was not taking it. "My mom doesn't have money for them". The other was extremely reserved. Brilliant kid apparently, but introverted to the extreme.

One day, one of the kids' backpack smelled like urine. They told a story of a cat being locked in the bathroom and shitting and pissing all over the place (including on the backpack). Not sure how or why that happened, but apparently the parents didn't think the backpack needed to be cleaned.

The kids often told stories about how they had to stay alone at home for long periods with their younger sister, or would say how much they like going to school, because they actually get to have fun there.

When my gf met the parents, all her suspicions were confirmed. The mother was high as a kite and the father was fishy as hell and looked like a drug dealer.

Few days ago, CPS came to school and took the kids away.

On a less depressing note, she also tells a story that's kind of the reverse. She saw on the student list a name she recognized. It was the kid of a guy she went to college with. She was able to pick out which kid it was right away, because the kid spoke and acted exactly like his father.