News, Mom Arrested for Leaving Daughter at Park While She Was Working (toddler, play)
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What about all the fools who send their children to the library all day while they are at work?
As a former librarian I can tell you absolutely that is not safe at all. Libraries are full of mentally unstable people, even in small towns. Librarians aren't child care workers; they have a million other things to do and can't always keep an eye on every single child that is in the library.
Working parents now do have it hard, and I think every situation is different.
But in most communities it's wise to not leave your kids in the park or library alone.
Not that it should be an arrestable offense - which ends up costing communities money. Communities would be better off spending money on summer childcare options.
this is tragic the library was my favorite place when a child in chicago. gone are the days.
I have been following this thread for several days. Today, I was reading my local paper's religion section; it referenced the upcoming Vacation Bible Schools in my area. Even if the mom has no money for day care and no particular interest in religion, she could have sent her daughter to VBS for a week at various churches. It would give the poor child something to do and some supervision for a few hours. Many of them help with transportation.
Rec centers give scholarships to some of their programs. I think the mom didn't look into her options.
I have been following this thread for several days. Today, I was reading my local paper's religion section; it referenced the upcoming Vacation Bible Schools in my area. Even if the mom has no money for day care and no particular interest in religion, she could have sent her daughter to VBS for a week at various churches. It would give the poor child something to do and some supervision for a few hours. Many of them help with transportation.
Rec centers give scholarships to some of their programs. I think the mom didn't look into her options.
Exploring options takes skills that some people just don't have.
Instead of admiring the woman for getting a job and helping her figure out daycare, apparently she's in jail and the girl is in foster care. I doubt this is in the best interest of the child or the community.
this is tragic the library was my favorite place when a child in chicago. gone are the days.
Libraries have always been a refuge for the less fortunate, where the homeless can hide out in the warmth, where the mentally ill can yammer away, where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.
A library still is a great place. It's just not a great place to leave children unsupervised. No place is.
People can carry on all they want about how they grew up running wild through the Limberlost, but times have changed.
Exploring options takes skills that some people just don't have.
Instead of admiring the woman for getting a job and helping her figure out daycare, apparently she's in jail and the girl is in foster care. I doubt this is in the best interest of the child or the community.
I have never advocated putting the mother in jail and the daughter in foster care. It's pretty disrespectful to this mom to say that she doesn't have the skills to explore options. She saved up money to buy a computer and let the child sit at McDonald's all day playing on it. She came up with this park idea. Her friends started some sort of legal defense fund. She clearly has some thinking skills and friends.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 07-19-2014 at 11:44 AM..
I have never advocated putting the mother in jail and the daughter in foster care. It's pretty degrading to this mom to say that she doesn't have the skills to explore options. She saved up money to buy a computer and let the child sit at McDonald's all day playing on it. She came up with this park idea. She clearly has some thinking skills.
"She came up with the park idea," so clearly she has some thinking skills. Really?
It wasn't like she was in a sudden bind. The child had been sitting in the lobby of McDonald's for some time. Now she is wandering around a park all day.
Being able to access services takes skills such as reasearching what agencies to approach, skills at filling out paperwork for sliding scale fees...
I think it is "pretty degrading" to say that the woman had the skills to access options and just decided not to use them.
I have never advocated putting the mother in jail and the daughter in foster care. It's pretty disrespectful to this mom to say that she doesn't have the skills to explore options. She saved up money to buy a computer and let the child sit at McDonald's all day playing on it. She came up with this park idea. Her friends started some sort of legal defense fund. She clearly has some thinking skills and friends.
According to the articles I read, her daughter asked to be allowed to play at the park, and her mom gave her a cell phone. Also, I have not read anything that the child was not allowed to walk the >five minutes back to the McD's any time during her mom's shift. Since she was permitted to hang out at the McDonald's during her mom's entire shifts prior to the laptop being stolen, I doubt it would have been a problem to come & go.
I'm sure more details will come out. In the meantime, the mom gets to deal with an arrest and the fallout from that, and the daughter gets to wonder what she did wrong to be taken from her family, all because someone called the police instead of the mom.
Once more, slowly (this is I think the third time I've said this), I DO NOT AGREE WITH THE WAY THIS CASE WAS HANDLED! I do think though, that the mom's solution for day care was not appropriate, be it park or the kid sitting at Mac's all day playing on the computer while mom worked.
ETA: This is regardless of whether going to the park was the child's idea or the mom's.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 07-19-2014 at 12:45 PM..
Sorry, but dropping your kid off at a park and leaving them unattended is an arrestable offense in my opinion.
She didn't drop her off. The girl walked the 5 min to the park where she joined 30-40 other kids playing on a splash lad and playground instead of sitting eating junk food and staring at a wall in mcdonalds all day. Which is really more dangerous statistically...French fries or playing "alone" with 30 other kids and a cell phone? Or how about the dangers of foster care and a mother in jail vs. playing in the park?
My kids are 8 & 10 and have been going to the neighborhood parks together for over a year. The world has gone nuts, you expect your kids to grow up to know how to be independent, to make good decisions, and yet you don't let them out of your sight until they're 21.
It's ridiculous and in this case I also can't help but wonder if the woman was wealthy, white, and working for the attorney 5 min from the park, if it would have been reported at all.
I continue to wonder about this rest of this story.
Mother is able to afford cell phone and laptop (until it was stolen) for her daughter, but not arrange for supervision. No summer camps, Bible School, YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, relatives, friends, neighbors...
Plus, I've known kids much more neglected than this one, where the mother seems much more neglectful, and where social services is called in and they work with the mother to come up with a better solution for supervision.
This story just does not make sense. Throwing her in jail for letting her 9 y/o daughter play at the park all day? Either there was more going on than reported, or the police way overstepped.
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