Happy Mother's Day-- SLAM!!!

[XLFD]

In Paw Paw, Michigan, four kids will celebrate Mother's Day knowing that their mother is in jail because they were left out in a car while she visited her incarcerated boyfriend two weeks ago.  The story goes like this:

 

A mother accused of leaving five children under the age of 10 in a car alone for at least 30 minutes now faces child endangerment charges, according to WSBT.

Twenty-nine-year-old Jessica Abernathy was arrested Friday [May 11] after the children were found in the car outside the Van Buren County Jail on April 28.

The sheriff's department said Abernathy left her children, ages 9, 7, 5, 4 and 3, in a car outside the jail while visiting her incarcerated boyfriend inside.

A concerned citizen alerted a corrections officer, who talked to the children and found out the mother was inside. She was taken outside for questioning, and told authorities a friend was supposed to pick the children up in the parking lot, and thought she'd seen the friend show up at the jail so she left the kids alone.

That friend never showed up. Police estimate the children were left unsupervised for 30 to 45 minutes.

A police report was filed and forwarded to the prosecutor's office, who authorized misdemeanor child endangerment charges for Abernathy. She was taken into custody at her home in Lawrence Township on Friday, and remains in the Van Buren County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

Child Protective Services is also assisting in the on going investigation.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/sbt-mom-accused-of-leaving-kid...

 

I feel sorry for the kids, and believe she is far from "mother of the year" material, and fully understand why many people would say she's a moron for leaving five kids in a car for a half hour outside a jail (with all the shady characters that hang around there on visiting day).  However, this mother apparently has no prior 'bad mother moments' on her record and because of a law passed just recently that went into effect in 2009  MCL 750.135a that makes it a misdemeanor or felony to leave children unattended in a car (with someone at least 13 y.o. and mentally competent) she stands to sit in jail for a little over three months and be fined up to $500. 

 

Do we really want to throw a mother of 5 kids in jail just for making one terrible choice (maybe, two, since having an 'incarcerated boyfriend' isn't likely that smart either)?  Haven't you known someone who may be as guilty as she is for leaving kids under 13 in a car unattended who wasn't a bad or negligent person?  What do you think, mothers and non-mothers.

[Willy]

Yes she's stupid but the police over reacted by arresting her. What will be accomplished by putting her in jail and sending the kids to foster care? They should have given her a good scolding and a ticket. The authorities are just as stupid in their reaction as she was in her negligence and the kids are caught in the middle.

[XLFD]

Here's the thing that surprises, yet does not surprise me.  She was evaluated by CPS the very day the incident occurred, April 28th, and sent home with the kids.  Then 12 days of incident-free child-rearing later she is arrested with three counts of violating the above law for each of the kids under 6 being pushed by the county prosecutor.  I can foresee five kids that may grow up to be resentful of the law if they go ahead and make an example of their mother.  Is that really the lesson we want to teach here? 

[Lisa O'Brien]

Here are my questioning thoughts and they may sound judgmental - How does she support 5 kids, why on earth is she even messing with a man who is in jail let alone when she has 5 children, who leaves their kids alone in a car in a jail parking lot and why was she even on CPS's radar. Without knowing more about her personal life - I would have to go with my gut reaction and say - yes I think her children would be better off without her.

[XLFD]

In the same category, but getting a bit off this woman's actions, is another event that happened yesterday on Mother's Day.  Shortly after nightfall, a 24 year old mother of three was hit by a car on this stretch of road, pictured below.  Her three children will survive her.  We will never get anybody's story beyond the driver of the vehicle who survived the crash, but there is a couple of things at play here. 

If you are walking on a road like this after dark, you need to be sure you are walking 'defensively', and assume the drivers won't be able to see you.  A mom walking with her three kids should be following that common sense rule, particularly on a road like this which is obviously not pedestrian-friendly, cloaked by pines and with a small sandy shoulder.

If you are driving on a road like this after dark, there should be few times when you should not be able to pick out the fact that there is a mother, a baby carriage and movement along the roadway and be able to stop or avoid the collision with the same.  This looks like an area that should have a lot of car-deer accidents, and attentiveness to the road is in your best interest as a motorist.  What a burden it will be for the motorist here, knowing that he/she has deprived three kids of their mother on Mother's Day.  What a bigger burden it will be if they could have avoided doing so.

Mother walking with 3 kids hit, killed: woodtv.com

 

[Willy]

X

I am suprised your not blaming the vehicle driver for not wearing night vision goggles and for being reckless by driving at night and that the driver should have detected the woman and kids before leaving the house.

[XLFD]

LOL, Willy.  You no doubt refer to the fact that I always approach a car-BMP accident from the vantage contrary to most people, i.e. that the lifeless BMP wasn't 100% to blame. 

The thing that nags at me in this case is that the road throughout the 2 mile stretch centered on this accident is straight and level, and any attentive motorist would have been likely to see this group of humanity from a ways off.  But dead peds tell no tales, so you'll never get the full story here.

[Sweater Cows!]

NINE IS plenty old to be watching the rest of the kids. Socitey is trying to raise a bunch of incompetant wusses in children now days.F88k many 9 yo kid raise their brothers and sisters all the time while parents work. What a bunch of sissies we are turning kids into and then wondering why they are mental disasters.

[Lisa O'Brien]

Sorry but I have to disagree - 5 children is a lot to handle for an adult, I don't think a 9 yr is capable of handling 4 younger children - it is too much responsibility. Plus being that they are siblings they probably lack the respect/fear they would give an adult. I think it was an EPIC failure on their Mothers part.

[Willy]

Lisa

What should have been a scolding of the mother and a lesson learned has been transormed by the authorities into a family crisis and they have turned this family and the children's lives upside down. How much damage to the children is being caused by being taken away from their mother and having their mother put in jail. Talk about tramatic. I'm suprised you don't see the over reaction by Big Brother. I can remember when I was a small child, my mother would hire the neighbor girl to watch me while she did errands. That girl was 10 years old but of course she seemed almost grown up to me. Some farm kids do adult work at age 9.

[Lisa O'Brien]

How many siblings was the neighbor responsible for and their ages - or was it just you. To watch 4 kids (esp 3 & 4 yr old) is a huge responsibility for an adult - let alone a 9 yr old. She stated a girlfriend was supposed to pick them up - and she thought she saw her drive in so she left - she couldn't wait around another 5 minutes to confirm it was her friend. BTW which never showed up - so I am assuming this was a lie. Do I think the punishment is to harsh - the jury is still out. I'm curious as to how CPS was involved prior to this incident - and even if she was cleared in that incident it really doesn't mean she's a good mother CPS has some epic failures on their hands.

[XLFD]

If you read any historical pieces, or if you're as old as Aquaman, letting 9-12 year olds look over whole parcels of  younger kids was a common occurrence.  Now it's a full-fledged crime since 2009. 

Is letting preteens look over children ideal?  No, but sometimes it may be necessary for a limited time.  And I'm sure most of the mom's and dad's out there have been guilty at one time or another of this when they know the preteen is responsible. 

[Lisa O'Brien]

Here's another issue I have with both her and the police in this situation - from another article I read on this the kids were in a 1994 Mazda Navajo - there is no way all these children would fit into this vehicle legally - but the police did let her leave with them - she was arrested later at her home.