B.C. Children's Representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond says she was distressed that she first heard through the media about the incident, which occurred two months ago. (CBC)B.C.'s children's watchdog says she's shocked that a disabled girl was left to fend for herself for days while her mother lay dead on the floor of their home in the Fraser Valley community of Cultus Lake.

Children's Representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond will investigate the girl's ordeal, and said that she's distressed the incident happened almost two months ago but wasn't reported to her until after she heard about it in the media.

"The ministry hadn't reported it to me," Turpel-Lafond told CBC News on Friday. "Any time a child has been left alone, with a parent who has died, for a number of days, I consider that to be an injury to the child, especially when the child has special needs."

The 15-year-old girl with Down syndrome was found hungry and dehydrated in the family's home Sept. 15 after spending up to nine days alone with her mother's body.

'I'm just glad we found her when we did because it could have been one hell of a lot of worse.'—Neighbour Lawrence Jewett

There were multiple child-protection complaints on the file and concerns were raised by neighbours and family members that the mother was in a deteriorating state, Turpel-Lafond said.

She said when dealing with a disabled child who is completely dependent on an adult for care, the capacity of that caregiver is an important issue.

Turpel-Lafond said she would take up an "independent investigation" of the case.

A statement by Children's Minister Mary Polak calls the situation tragic, but also asks the public not to jump to conclusions without all the facts. Polak also said privacy laws prevented her from publicly revealing more facts about the case.

Emaciated condition

Neighbours who rescued the girl from her trailer home say the girl was in very poor condition when they found her.

Lawrence Jewett and another man broke into the family's mobile home and found the girl emaciated and filthy.

This 15-year-old was found in a Cultus Lake, B.C., trailer home after spending several days alone with her dead mother. (CBC)"We did what we could here and we tried," said Jewett, manager of the mobile home park about 75 kilometres east of Vancouver.

"I'm just glad we found her when we did because it could have been one hell of a lot of worse."

Jewett forced his way into the home when no one answered the door and found the woman's decomposing body on the floor. The teenage girl was sitting on the couch.

He and his wife took the girl to their home and cared for her.

"She was in really bad shape, she had diaper rash down to her ankles and she was blistered," said Edith Jewett.

She said the teen, who cannot be named because she is now in provincial care, reeked of urine and had lost a lot of weight.

"At first I didn't recognize her, she was so much skinnier," she said.

Neighbours grew alarmed

She fed the girl, gave her a bath and gave her as much fluid as possible.

"It's sad that she sat there all that time," Edith Jewett said in a telephone interview.

While they sometimes heard the mother yelling at the girl in the past, Edith Jewett said the woman kept to herself and it wasn't unusual not to see them for days at a time. It was several days before neighbours grew alarmed about not seeing the mother or daughter in September.

She said the girl told her at first that her mom was sleeping, "but when she came over here she said 'Oh, my mom's dead. She's gone to heaven."'

Lawrence Jewett helped clean out the home after the teen was rescued and said they removed about a dozen large garbage bags of empty liquor and pop bottles and cans.