EXCLUSIVE: NEWTON, Mass. – A missing mom's friends are "begging" child protective services to let them care for her three young sons so they're not placed in the foster care system, where they could possibly be separated.
Ana Walshe, who went missing from her Cohasset, Massachussets home on New Year's Day, has three children under the age of six.
The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families has been caring for the kids since Sunday, when their father and Ana's husband, Brian Walshe, was arrested and charged with impeding an investigation.
Natasha Sky and Pamela Bardhi, who are Ana's close friends, told Fox News Digital that they believe the children could be placed in foster care as early as the end of the day Wednesday and potentially split up.
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"Ana has been missing for 11 days. The chances of finding her are grim, but we have to care for her children. That should be our priority," Sky said during an interview in her home Wednesday. "The international community in the New England area, including families who have had Ana's children over for play dates, want to care for them until Ana's mom comes to the United States from Serbia."
Sky, who's the founder of the nonprofit Sky International Center in Newton Centre, is using her organization to help raise funds to fly Ana's mom from Serbia to Massachusetts.
Ana's mother, Milanka Ljubicic, told Fox News Digital that her daughter had asked her to come visit just a week before Ana vanished. Ljubicic also has a daughter in the Toronto area, Aleksandra Dimitrijevic.
"We're sure social services is just as concerned about Ana's boys as we are, but we need to make sure they're in a private house and they're interacting with their friends," Sky said. "We're begging social services to let us care for them and don't put them in foster care. That's the only way we can help Ana's kids."
State child protective services didn't immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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Meanwhile, the search continues for Ana Walshe, the 39-year-old mom and real estate executive, who hasn't been seen since New Year's Day. She wasn't reported missing until Jan. 4 after she didn't show up to her job at the Washington, D.C.-based real estate firm Tishman Speyer.
Police found blood in the basement of the Walshes' Cohasset home, as well as a broken knife, prosecutors said during Brian Walshe's arraignment on Monday, when he pleaded not guilty.
The search led law enforcement to a Swampscott waste facility about an hour away from their home, where investigators reportedly found trash bags with blood, a hatchet and a hacksaw, sources told WBZ-TV.
The local TV station reported that investigators wearing protective suits and police officers with dogs were spotted searching the facility Monday.
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The Norfolk District Attorney's Office issued a statement Tuesday about evidence that had been collected.
"Search activity conducted north of Boston yesterday resulted in a number of items being collected, which will now be subject to processing and testing to determine if they are of evidentiary value to this investigation," the Norfolk DA's Office said.
Brian Walshe is being held on $500,000 bond, and his lawyer, Tracy Minter, said she isn't commenting on the case.
"I am not doing press interviews or even responding to inquiries, as right now my focus is on defending my client in court," she told Fox News on Monday.
