It's really not that strangers job to investigate and I'm not surprised the little girl didn't tell her more. She's probably been told not to talk to strangers, and if she could tell the woman was already mad/angry, she's probably not going to chat her up.
Harry Styles = Life Ruiner
There’s a lightningin your eyes I can't deny Then there’s me inside a sinkingboat running out of time Without you I'll never make it out alive But I know, yes, I know we’ll be alright
@GhostMonkey wth with that situation with your aunt? I'm so sorry for her. Geeze.
stories like this really scare me because of all the backgrounds checks I have to go through working with kids. I thought the same thing with the mom who left the 4 year old in the car (not that it's the same as this situation) but that the bystander has no idea and/or doesn't care about the lifelong implications that a CPS call can have.
I called the police on a child once. It was a somewhat similar situation, but there were differences.
I called the Nonemergency line to report a young teen boy (I guessed 14) who was begging at an intersection. It was forty and he had no coat. When I handed him a cupcake I had in the car he cried. He had a sign that said "homeless".
My goal in calling was to get him help. I didn't and don't know all the services in that area. I figured the cops would be able to hook him up with help and the dispatcher sounded concerned about him when I called.
I have no idea if he was skipping school and lying or if he was homeless. I have no idea if the police helped him or charged him or his parents. I don't know if he ended up in foster care or a group home or if someone gave him a coat.
I hesitated to call at first because I didn't want him to be charged, but people here encouraged me to call and asked "what if that was your son". I'd rather risk him being arrested for panhandling than being cold and at risk, so I called.
Yes, it's different than the "busybody" who called about this girl, but this woman may have had similar concerns and good intentions.
Does calling about that teen make me a bitch? Maybe. I hope he's doing well. I think about him a lot.
This makes me really angry. It totally depends on so many factors whether this scenario is ok, like the girl's level of responsibility/maturity, the type of neighborhood, the distance from Mom's work.... I could see someone questioning her if she was causing problems with other kids or if someone was bothering her and she seemed to be having trouble, but other than that I wonder why she even asked. And even if it was a legitimate concern, an arrest on the first "offense" is way overkill. Talk to the mom, tell her it's not ok, give her some other options. Our "justice" system is only interested in punishing arbitrarily instead of actually helping people, which obviously makes things worse since now the girl is in foster care.
I'm gonna teach my kids if anyone asks them where I am to tell them it's not of their damn business! (Kidding...sort of....)
I just read this whole thread and my feelings changed on it a lot of times. Mostly I agreed with fred that it wasn't a bright idea but that the arrest and removal were over the top. But now I'm comparing it to the feelings I recently had on another (TRIGGER) situation.
When the father of "that" little boy was arrested I think the initial feeling was "OMG! A horrific mistake and he's being charged with MURDER??" And then guess what? We found out that there was a lot the police knew that we didn't know. Am I saying this was the right thing to do? No. I'm just kind of over getting my panties in a twist over the (often one sided, erroneous or incomplete) information we get through the media.
@msspeedymarie, am I having a reading fail. Do you really think this was the best thing for the child?
@MotherOfPearl85 yes, sarcasm on my part. The f'ed up autocorrects my iPad did in the last sentence make it hard to read. Sorry.
I'm so frustrated with our country where we incarcerate because we have gutted our social services. It would be way cheaper to give this mom child care vouchers or something for the summer than it would to keep the kid in foster care and the mom in jail and have a trial. And now she's lost her job, and since she'll probably be in jail until her trial, will probably also lose her apartment. And as GM said, even if she isn't found guilty, it's gonna be hard to get her kid back with no job and to place to live.
About the only way this makes sense is if the mom and kid already have a CPS rap sheet where evidence of abuse or true neglect were recorded, and this incident was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Re: Mom Arrested for Letting Her 9 yo DD Go to the Park Alone
Harry Styles = Life Ruiner
There’s a lightning in your eyes I can't deny
Then there’s me inside a sinking boat running out of time
Without you I'll never make it out alive
But I know, yes, I know we’ll be alright
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
J. 1.14.13 my reason for breathing
I called the Nonemergency line to report a young teen boy (I guessed 14) who was begging at an intersection. It was forty and he had no coat. When I handed him a cupcake I had in the car he cried. He had a sign that said "homeless".
My goal in calling was to get him help. I didn't and don't know all the services in that area. I figured the cops would be able to hook him up with help and the dispatcher sounded concerned about him when I called.
I have no idea if he was skipping school and lying or if he was homeless. I have no idea if the police helped him or charged him or his parents. I don't know if he ended up in foster care or a group home or if someone gave him a coat.
I hesitated to call at first because I didn't want him to be charged, but people here encouraged me to call and asked "what if that was your son". I'd rather risk him being arrested for panhandling than being cold and at risk, so I called.
Yes, it's different than the "busybody" who called about this girl, but this woman may have had similar concerns and good intentions.
Does calling about that teen make me a bitch? Maybe. I hope he's doing well. I think about him a lot.
I'm gonna teach my kids if anyone asks them where I am to tell them it's not of their damn business! (Kidding...sort of....)