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Out of the Running for Parents of the Year
Spring break in Florida is not just for college students. The “only two beers” phrase came up in their arrest. A mom and dad, or mom’s fiancé, took a trip to Florida and were found passed out on the beach.
They didn’t know where their children were when deputies found them. The children were found safe at nearby hotel swimming pool.
It reminds me of a kiddie call that my partner received from a dispatcher on a Saturday afternoon.
A report of two children left alone at home. Their parents decided to take a weekend trip without the kids. A five-year-old, and the other child was about two years old. We knocked on the door several times and the older child came to the window, but he wouldn’t open the door.
We obtained a key to the apartment and found the two-year-old in a playpen. They were left with a box of cereal in the living room. We made arrangements for children’s services to take custody of the children. We were informed that the parents were arrested on Sunday evening after they had called 9-1-1 to report their missing children.
Published in Policing
This falls into the category of thing the police should not have to do, but someone has too.
Glad that one had been less than a day. I saw a recent headline about a murder trial where the mom is alleged to have left her toddler at home while she went on a ten day vacation. The summary made me sick and angry and I didn’t want to click and read the whole article.
A neighbor told us that the parents had left on Friday afternoon. He was the neighbor that called 9-1-1 that generated our visit to the apartment. He thought the kids were in the car until he walked by apartment window on Saturday afternoon and saw the older child looking out the window. When he didn’t see the parent’s car in the parking lot he made the 9-1-1 call. I still think of him as the good neighbor.
I think the guy in question is a fiance and not the father of the children. In that case, is he less liable than the mother, Doug?
Not if their living together, but that depends on Florida statutes.
At first glance I thought you were telling a story about your mom and dad.
Yes, amen to that! I believe the statistics on that situation are grim.
Thanks, I made an edit to clarify that.
If your mom and dad ever do get drunk and pass out on a beach, Doug, we will expect a full report, of course.
These are clearly not the brightest lights in the chandelier of mankind. What was the guy thinking when he ran off, with his hands handcuffed behind his back? How was that going to end well for him?!
I’ve noticed some YouTube videos pop up on that subject, and there are others on a fairly regular basis that fortunately don’t involve any deaths. But there are still a lot of bad parents around.
When I read about this I wondered if these two kids were used to this sort of situation with their mom and her guy. That makes it all the more sad.
When I see this I also think, “What do They do for a living?”
Obviously They’re not destitute or independently wealthy.
I went looking for stats on this, as I wanted to know if this is on the rise or not, but didn’t find anything on what we might term ‘temporary abandonment’.
In any case, it would only count if the parent(s) get caught and would include a mom driving to the store to pick up meds for a sleeping toddler along with our passed out beachgoers.
My sister in law & her husband adopted several children. Once they were walking down the street with 2 of the children when a cop car pulled over & asked “what are you doing with these children- we know them”. When they explained they had just adopted them, the police said “great” & returned to their cars after explaining they had seen the toddlers in the past walking about the streets in “full” diapers, looking for something to eat, while their biological parents where drugged out.
When I was on the street, we used the phrase “kiddie calls” for calls involving children. Detectives that caught child abuse investigations were called “kiddie cops”. Those calls can be soul searing and grim.
One night I was one of three officers watching another officer counting the number of cigarette burns on the arms of two children. After that call I got a cup of coffee, found a place to park my car, and watched traffic go by waiting for officer friendly to reemerge.
That is one thing I do not miss after leaving police work.