by Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 28/97) - For the second time in as many days, social workers have removed young children from a downtown apartment building.

Neighbors alerted the Department of Social Services after four young children were left unattended Wednesday night, said RCMP Staff Sgt. Dave Grundy.

Mounties helped the social workers take the children into their care just before midnight. The children hadn't been harmed, but had been left unattended since earlier in the evening.

Grundy said earlier this week that abandoned children aren't anything unusual, and believes it's a concern in Yellowknife. "This is a real common occurrence here in town," he said.

They are often left in the care of an older child that may not be old enough to look after other children, he added.

Four more young children -- ranging in ages four to 13 -- found alone at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning by police, are in still in the care of Social Services.

Social workers removed the children from the apartment where they were living after they, too, were left unattended.

Police found the children without any adult supervision. They are believed to have been left by their mother more than nine hours earlier.

Social Services and RCMP are investigating both cases.