WWYD: Baby not in carseat

Alli923 · March 2009

Yesterday we were driving back from a long walk with the dogs and pulled up to a stoplight. I glance out the window and see that in the car next to me a woman is driving, a teen girl is in the backseat with a baby in her lap. There is a carseat in the backseat, but baby isn't in it. We were in downtown Renton, not on the freeway (not that that makes it any better really). Right as my brain makes sense of it, the light turns green and we were turning so I couldn't get a better look at the license plate or anything.

What would you all do? Call 911? I honestly didn't know what to do, they didn't look like the kind of people who would take kindly to me rolling down my window and saying something.

cmcmillan · March 2009

When we were growing up my Mom had a hotline number she would call. She would have us write down the license number, and where we saw the car at. I will have to ask her what the number was she used to use, their is probably a similar number these days.

KNemo · March 2009

I think I would find myself in your same postition. I would want to call, but as soon as my mind made sense of what was happening, it would be too late. You seldom see something like this, so it takes almost too long to process it.

nykola · March 2009

Maybe it was an atypical situation. Since there was a carseat in the car, perhaps the woman was tending to an urgent issue or something regarding to the baby and didn't think it was necessary to have the driver pull over? Not saying that's right or justifying this behavior, just wondering giving them the benefit of the doubt.

I think not having the baby strapped in to a carseat is completely irresponsible behavior, but I often worry about calling the police on people for such things because the government's take on things tends to be extreme and I have a lot of sensitivity around people's children being taken from them, etc. CPS is not a stand up agency in my book.

Sorry you had to even witness that! That stuff just turns my stomach.
I was at Southcenter this last Friday and there was this little 3 year old who lost his mom. He was hysterical running around the mall looking for her. I almost reached out to grab his hand and help him when a security guard stepped in and walked with him trying to find her, but my insides were churning....I felt so bad for that little boy he was sobbing. I wished I could've helped.

massagegirly · March 2009

Yes I would call the police immediatly.

scarletii · March 2009

I was going to ask you guys the same thing! I saw a 18-month to 2 year old in a van not in a car seat! I wondered if I should call 911! UGH!

Alli923 · March 2009

I think I'm a little over-sensitive to things like this too. DH and I have had to call the police multiple times for things like this, once when a couple was beating the crap out of their 2 year old in a Shopko parking lot (we and another customer were all in tears it was so awful) and more recently when we found a little girl locked in a parked car in an abandoned dark park. I tend to err on the side of caution and call.

I swear, some people!

Mrslove78 · March 2009

massagegirly:
Yes I would call the police immediatly.

Me too!

nykola · March 2009

And don't forget the time when the couple abandoned their kid so they could go have sex!! I totally remember that story. Oh wait, maybe it was the same story as the kid being locked in the car.

Alli923 · March 2009

nykola:
And don't forget the time when the couple abandoned their kid so they could go have sex!! I totally remember that story. Oh wait, maybe it was the same story as the kid being locked in the car.

Yes! Same story, still horrific! I swear, these things always happen to me.

greenmtbride · March 2009

I am a mandated reporter for my job so I would have had to call the police...assuming I was observant enough to notice in the first place (which is questionable)!

tfarabians · March 2009

Well still not as bad as our redneck neighbor who picks her kids up from the bus in her HUGE jacked up truck and drives them around the neighborhood in the back truck bed!

CDMay2006 · March 2009

I'm not sure the protocol, but here is a link to a wealth of information about identifying and reporting abuse and neglect, and other related issues.

https://www.childwelfare.gov/responding/

babyaustin725 · March 2009

nykola:

I was at Southcenter this last Friday and there was this little 3 year old who lost his mom. He was hysterical running around the mall looking for her. I almost reached out to grab his hand and help him when a security guard stepped in and walked with him trying to find her, but my insides were churning....I felt so bad for that little boy he was sobbing. I wished I could've helped.

Oh my gosh. I died a little inside reading this. I would be SICK with worry. They are slippery!

JDCSKF · March 2009

Personally, I would have to give them the benefit of doubt. There are situations, when you are in them, that you just need to get the baby out of the seat. I've had to do it. DD came down with the flu while we were visiting his parents, and the position of her carseat was making her choke on her vomit. I ended up climbing in the backseat and taking her out so she could vomit, and then she instantly fell asleep. DH was driving, and we were stuck in traffic. We figured it was just better to let her be, get us home safely, and let her sleep.

Of course, if the child is just in the backseat and is hanging out having a good time, or it was a neighbor who I saw all the time, then of course I would call 911.

IdahoGirl · March 2009

tfarabians:
Well still not as bad as our redneck neighbor who picks her kids up from the bus in her HUGE jacked up truck and drives them around the neighborhood in the back truck bed!

I have had a ride in the back of a pickup a time or two as a kid, and I don't think my parents would qualify for CPS reporting.. fwiw

I think by the time I realized what I was seeing, I would have thought that perhaps there was something wrong with the baby. If something were wrong with Maddy and DH were taking us to the hospital, I don't know that I would take the time to put her in her car seat. I hope that this was a random event for this child, not the norm.

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