LAWRENCE — Police called into investigate complaints about a loud early morning party yesterday had four children removed from a Phillips Street home after finding them sleeping in conditions that Chief John Romero described as "squalor."

Police were so troubled by the conditions at 8 Phillips St that they had the four children whose parents couldn't be found taken to Lawrence General Hospital to be examined. They also filed a child abuse/neglect complaint with the Department of Social Services.

DSS workers went to the hospital and then to the homes of each of the parents. It was not clear whether Social Services removed any of the children from the parents custody, according to police. An infant was allowed to stay in the first-floor apartment with her parents.

"It wasn't even a matter of being dirty," Romero said last night of the home that police visited.

"The officers who responded to the complaint said it was beyond that — deplorable conditions. The level of squalor was terrible. Just the sheer conditions of the apartment and the young age of the kids required us to take immediate action," the chief said. "One of the reasons why we took four of the kids to the hospital is that we believed one or more of them had previous involvement with DSS. The matter is in the hands of DSS now, and we will be conferring with them Monday," the chief said.

Shortly before 2:30 a.m., police encountered a group of seven people on the front porch of 8 Phillips St. Before police ordered them to leave, one mentioned that they had been hanging out, drinking and smoking in the first-floor apartment. Police then knocked on the door of the first-floor apartment to make sure the party was over and no longer creating problems for neighbors.

A man who opened the door allowed police in to check the premises.

"As we walked through the apartment, we observed empty liquor bottles, garbage, furniture, dirty laundry and other items scattered throughout the apartment," Officer Ariskelda Ruffen wrote in her report.

Ruffen said she found a newborn baby girl sleeping in a bassinet in a bedroom that "was in total disarray, hangers, clothes and food all over the floor."

In the second bedroom, the officer said, she found two children — ages 2 and 8 — sleeping on a bed with no sheets in similar conditions. In another bedroom, police found a 1-year-old boy and an infant boy sleeping on a mattress on the floor "with graffiti on the walls, empty liquor bottles on the floor and a strong smell of marijuana."

Ruffen said she filed a complaint with DSS because of police officers' concerns about "the well being of each and every child."

Romero said he wondered whether the missing mothers were among those who fled from outside the house when police initially arrived.

Police have also requested that the city's Department of Inspectional Services investigate the apartment to determine whether there are violations of health and safety codes.