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Add to FavoritesParents who leave children alone in cars are irresponsible. There is no reason or excuse, for a parent to leave a child alone in a car at any time. In Dayton, Ohio,in 2008 and 2007, there was two different cases, of babies left in hot cars, in the heat of summer. Both babies had been left in the cars for over 8 hours. Both of them cooked in the heat of the day, and died as a result.
Both these mothers said they had "forgotten," the babies were in the car. These mothers had gone to work. How could they not know where they left their babies? Neither one of these women were charged with anything. They never did a day in jail. They should had been charged with," unintentional manslaughter, child endangerment, child neglect, and child abuse."
During this same time, other parents have left children in cars, and the children were not affected, with the short time they were in the car. Yet, these parents went to jail, had their children put into foster care, and were charged with child endangerment. Another mother faced the death penalty for putting her baby into a micro wave oven for a few seconds, which killed the baby. That baby cooked in the oven, and the babies in the cars, cooked in the hot temperatures. All three of them died horrific deaths.
"How can the laws punish one mother with life in prison with no parole, for being drunk ,and putting the baby in the microwave by "mistake," yet, not charge two mothers for being perfectly in their right mind, and "forgetting," their babies, in a boiling hot car, for 8 hours?. And not charge them with any thing at all?
This year another young mother who was living in desperation, left her baby in a hot car, so she could go to her job. She could not get a babysitter, and had to work to survive. Fortunately, the baby was spotted ,and the police were called. This young mother could had faced a terrible tragedy, had the baby not been seen, and reported. The baby was found to be in good condition. The police arrested the mother, and charged her with child endangerment, and neglect. Her baby was put into foster care, and she sits in jail.
Her actions were considered deliberate, where as the cases of the two mothers , who lost their babies, were considered "ACCIDENT'S..", The two mothers who got away with forgetting their babies, should be punished far more, than the mother who's baby survived. NO parent should leave a small baby, or child in a car, for any amount of time. Whatever happens to those children, is the responsibility of the mother. Leaving a baby in a hot car, to boil to death is a CRIME. The excuse of forgetting that the baby was left there, should not be allowed. What if the mother who went to work, and her baby was found, before any danger reached the baby, had said , "she had "forgotten" the baby was in the car?" Would she had been released with no charges also? I doubt it.
The mothers of the two babies who died, were teachers. That makes them even more responsible, for a child's well being, and welfare. It is who one knows, and how much, one can pay, to get them off. Where is the justice, when similar cases are so differently punished?
Learn more about this author, Simonne Liberty.
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No
Should parents who leave (unharmed) children alone in cars face charges?
I am torn by this question as to the reasoning a child is left alone in a car and the length of time a child is being left alone in the car. While there is no time limit on the possibilities for something going wrong.
In a few seconds a young child/toddler can get unbuckled from their carseat and cause mischief which we all know that young children are drawn to. No matter how careful you may think you are being there is always room for problems which comes with being a parent/caregiver. If a person runs into a store to purchase one or two items and leaves the car running a young child might be intrigued with the way the car runs, they will unbuckle themselves and go play with the shifter and all the buttons. What could this cause well I have seen it first handed.
A little boy was asleep in his backseat while a parent ran into the pizza place to pick up their order it was only 3 minutes from the time the person ran into the pizza place and the crash. The toddler woke up when the parent closed the door and unbuckled himself and crawled into the front seat and got the shifter out of gear and smashed into the building causing thousands of dollars in damages. Fortunately the child was unharmed but very scared along with all the people around the building that could have gotten hurt. Well the business lost a couple days of business because they had to close their doors for a couple days to get repairs.
I heard a story on the news where three very young children almost lost their life when a parent left the car running while they went into a store and the oldest of the three also got the car out of gear and the car rolled into a lake. And then there are the stories of how a person ran into store and left a small child in the car when it was running and the car was stolen with the child in the car. How horrifying for the parties involved knowing that you were responsible for the car being stolen and then having the child in the car.
I am guilty of leaving my young child in the car if I am going into pay for gas or purchasing a soda or something quick. I will never leave her in the car if I am going to be in the store for longer than a couple of seconds like if there is a line. I would never leave my young one in the car if I felt there was a danger to her but then I do live in a city where I don't have to worry about someone being around to steal the car and she is old enough not to know that you have to push the break pedal to get the car out of gear. While my car has that safety feature I still think about those things if I am making the decision whether she is going to go into the store with me or not. She is a pretty good child but she is still young enough that she thinks that she should be able to buy a treat and she likes to look at almost everything while in a store to cure her curiosity.
When making a decision to leave a child in a car unattended there has to be thought put into it. I know that if there was a law against it, I would never do it. But for now there is not a law for leaving a child in a car for a minute or two, which does not mean that it is right or wrong. What the biggest thing is that a parent/caregiver must use their better judgment when they make all of their decisions when it comes to their child(ren).
When a parent makes a poor judgment on behalf of their children and the child(ren) end up getting hurt or into trouble then the parent has to own up to the choice they made. Now it is a totally different story if it is scorching hot or freezing cold out and the child is left in a car for any length of time, that in itself should be considered cruel, unsafe, bordering the fine line of abusive and all of those things. If we allow the government to dictate every move we make while raising our children then we would not be able to learn from our lessons good or bad.
Learn more about this author, Amyjo Williams.
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