Child Abandoned At Daycare :(

[misspollywog]

Just saw this in the news:

WEATHERFORD, Texas - A 1-year-old girl is now in foster care after her grandmother allegedly abandoned her at her day care. Officials are concerned because of the family’s past with drug and alcohol abuse.

Child Protective Services said Donnia Harris left her young granddaughter at a Weatherford day care last Wednesday and didn’t come back to get her.

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/110811-cps%3A-baby-abandoned-at-day-care

Here's the kicker:

No criminal charges have been filed against Harris in the case because police said the baby was left with a paid caregiver. It does not meet the state requirements for charges.

My gosh. So sad!!

[small_steps]

Oh no! This is awful. I'm less than 30 min from that town. My heart goes out to this baby.

[JenNJ]

If the story is correct, she may be better off in foster care.

[misspollywog]

If the story is correct, she may be better off in foster care.

Agreed. My hubs doesn't think there should be criminal charges in these circumstances. I guess I'm feeling mean today, I'd want to throw the book at her!

[youretooloud]

Agreed. My hubs doesn't think there should be criminal charges in these circumstances. I guess I'm feeling mean today, I'd want to throw the book at her!

But, if WE did that to a daycare child, or even our own child, there would be criminal charges against us because we have higher expectations than parents do apparently.

[JenNJ]

I actually think it was a responsible thing to do in that situation. She left the baby with a qualified caregiver. Someone the baby knew and trusted. Much better than leaving her alone in a car, apartment, mall, etc.

[cheerfuldom]

It's a strange world when "responsible" and "abandoned a child" are used in the same sentence......shame on any parent/grandparent when the best thing you can say about them is that "at least they didn't abandon this child in a car". From the story, the plan was not to leave this child at a daycare in the child's best interest. This little one was basically forgotten while grandma went out and got drunk. disgusting.

[dave4him]

I actually think it was a responsible thing to do in that situation. She left the baby with a qualified caregiver. Someone the baby knew and trusted. Much better than leaving her alone in a car, apartment, mall, etc.

Agreed. Sounds premediated but at least it wasnt off alone

[daycare]

all I can say is thank god that the mom was not able to find her keys to come to the daycare to pick up the baby. Otherwise we would have been reading an even more horrific story.

I just dont understand why the grandmother will not get booked for abandonment... she just found a way to go out til all hours of the night and leave the child again.....ugh

[CheekyChick]

So sad. Poor little girl.

[wdmmom]

They have Safe Haven locations! Daycare isn't one of them. Poor kiddo!

[Kaddidle Care]

If the story is correct, she may be better off in foster care.

I agree. That Daycare is open until 6:00 PM - CPS was contacted at 11:00 PM.

I know that where I work we wouldn't be waiting that long before we called the authorities. As usual, there's more to the story. Something tells me this child has been left after hours before.

[Blackcat31]

I've actually had this happen to me before. I had a family in care and once in a while one of their extended family members would use me for drop in services. One day this family member called and made arrangements for me to watch her DS (age 3). The day went well, but by the time I closed I hadn't heard from anyone and I started to get worried. I called all the emergency contacts on the child's list but got no one. I closed at 6 PM back then.

Finally around 7:30-8:00 PM, I called the local police department and told them of the issue. I was told, that perhaps the mom was running late and coudn't get to a phone to call me and I should just continue to wait. This was before every Tom, Dick and Harry had a cell phone at their disposal so that was a very plausible explaination. I was also told I could not leave the property with the child because I was suppose to be watching him at the daycare. I ended up waiting until 10PM with him before I could convince the police department to send over CPS.....no one runs that late and just forgets their child. :confused:

Well, turns out the mom had gone to the casino for the day and got a little tipsy, went home with a male friend and passed out, so no one knew her kid was with me or where she was. I have no idea if any of the emergency contacts were actually real people or just numbers because I never did reach any of them. (The family I had in care was on vacation in another state so they were of no help.)

They ended up placing the child in Crisis Care and the mother got her child back and I never heard from her again...(Never got paid either).

I have also had dad's/mom's who work night shifts go home and sleep past my closing time and numerous phone calls to wake them as well!

I have gotten a lot better through the years about interviewing families so I don't have these types of issues anymore but from a child care provider's perspective....I'm just saying this stuff does happen more often than we think.

[mismatchedsocks]

This stuff does happen, that is what is sad. And I agree that the child was in a safe place, BUT that was not the intention when the grandma dropped off. She just happened to not come back to get drunk. It was not planned, i assume.

I had a family one time ( 6 kids, i watched the youngest ) drop child off at 6am. Pick up time is between 4-5 whenever the first person in family could get here. To make a long story short, this person thought that person got her, that person assumed this person got her, that one thought this one, etc. I called at 5:30 ALL the numbers I had for this child. NO ONE answered. I left messages on all their phones, etc. Come to find out the siblings went to a movie, after they assumed the parents got the kids. The one parent went out after work assuming a sibling was getting the child and the other parent decided to go home to rest until all the family got there and was not feeling well. About 7:30 I get a call from a sibling after the movie. Now I ask every morning who is picking up the baby, and even a year later I wonder how they can function with so many people picking her up!