2 year old left in the home for 19 days alone while mother was in jail

[ElsewheresDaughter]

the mother was arrested at work place and taken to jail...
who is to blame for this tragedy?...the police or the mother?...did the mother assume the police had taken care of her child at home? ...this is AWFUL!!!!

www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/10/01/toddler.alone.ap/

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) -- A 2-year-old girl left home alone for 21/2 weeks while her mother was in jail has been released from the hospital after being treated for malnutrition and dehydration, officials said Wednesday

The child, who survived by eating ketchup, mustard and dried pasta, was released late Tuesday from Wolfson Children's Hospital to the custody of the state Department of Children & Families.

"The only thing I can tell you is that she is in good condition," hospital spokesman David Foreman said.

The little girl had been left alone since her mother, Dakeysha Telita Lee, was jailed September 10 for aggravated assault and petty theft, police said. The mother was charged Monday with child abuse, and was being held Tuesday on $20,000 bond.

The child's father, Ogden Lee, who is separated from the 22-year-old mother, said he had been trying to contact her for two weeks and did not learn until Sunday night that she was in jail.

When a manager let him into the apartment, the youngster was lying nude in a baby's bathtub, covered with a towel and was watching a TV cartoon channel. She was filthy and covered with dry ketchup and jelly, Sheriff John Rutherford said Tuesday

[Gringo]

1. I don't know who's at fault but you can bet

That the wingnuts will be all over themselves blaming "librul social workers" and "nigras".

[Yupster]

2. I can't believe she survived

I can't imagine my kid at age 2 surviving on his own.

All I can think of is he would be rolled up in a ball crying. Over two weeks just seems like an extraordinary kid to me.

[MountainLaurel]

5. Extraordinary, or. . .

. . . has this sort of neglect happened before, and the toddler remembered what she did last time mommy left her alone?

[Yupster]

16. Well since

she was home alone when mom was picked up at work, my assumption is that this was mom's cheap daycare, and she left her home alone everyday.

That may be way off. It could turn out that this was the only day because the toddler was sick, and grandma and dad were out of town, and etc, but it looks pretty bad.

[JHB]

3. It's only half-awful...

...Not to let anyone off the hook, but thank Fnord the kid will be OK. There was an obvious, much-more-awful alternative ending to this story.

[MissB]

4. That is one amazing child

She did not drown. She did not turn on the stove. She did not wander outside and get hit by a car.

She survived for almost three weeks without parental supervision. While her diet wasn't particularly good, she managed to not starve.

I'm simply amazed.

[dfong63]

11. i'm with you

[Yupster]

17. when our kid was two

a neighbor knocked on the door and gave him back to us. She said he was wandering in the street.

Neither of us even knew he got outside.

[bowens43]

6. IMO the mother needs to spend some more time in jail.

I don't believe for a minute that she 'assumed' the police would take care of her child. Being a single dad, I can tell you that if I was hauled off to jail, I would make damn sure the the police knew about my kids (and they're all teenagers!).

[amazona]

8. don't assume they will do a very good job

When my neighbor was jailed, her oldest child was placed with an abuser and left there for a couple of years before the scandal came out. God only knows what happened to the younger kids. I just know that the oldest boy was tortured, kept in a dark closet, and all sorts of horror. Where was Child Protection to monitor what was going on? Who knows. A woman in jail is helpless to compel police and Child Protection to do a damn thing. All she can do is pray.


the authorities do not necessarily care what happens to the children of prisoners

[amazona]

7. they were supposed to send child protection around

The state or county is quite obviously in the wrong. When a mother is arrested, they are supposed to send Child Protection around to take care of the kids or to make sure they are taken care of. How can you arrest a woman for child abuse when she was in freakin' jail at the time? Is she supposed to have a superpower of being in two places at one time? Mothers in jail are already going crazy with how their children are being abused by so-called Child Protection and by some foster parents. Now they have to worry that the county might just forget and leave the child to starve?

It is pretty clear that Florida's wonderful and caring Child Protection services once again failed to do anything to protect a child -- equally clear that this woman will be put in prison for a crime she was helpless to prevent, because if she is not found guilty, she and her child will have one hell of a suit against the country. So there are two victims here. Disgusting.


someone screwed up bigtime here

[Yupster]

18. I would expect the mom to

repeat over and over again -- "Has someone gone to get my baby? She's in my house alone" about a zillion times until I was given assurances that she's been taken care of.

[Ivory_Tower]

9. One question, though

Who was watching the child while the mother was at work?

This doesn't let the Child Protection people off the hook, but something didn't sound right.

Not enough info in the article, I guess.

[Bunny]

10. What I heard on TV this morning

either CNN or Today Show: Mother never told police that she had a child. Mother told father that child was with a babysitter. Father came to doubt story, went to apartment, found child. Child survived by eating everything on bottom shelves of fridge. Child took label off can of corn, apparently thinking that was how to open it. Feces all over house. Child found with dried caked condiments on naked body.

Couldn't you just sit down and cry over this?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

14. bunnyj.......

>. Mother told father that child was with a babysitter. Father came to doubt story<


father didn't find out that the mother was in jail until Sunday....if he didn't believe his wife why did he wait 2 days before going to check on his child????

[damnraddem]

12. Why, I'll bet that the friendly arresting officer and the helpful jailer .

asked the mother about all of her worries. Sure.

If it comes out that the mother expressed concern for her child, asked aobut her child, asked that her child be cared for, then someone in the criminal justice system needs to be charged with child abuse.

[TSElliott]

13. Yeah blame the jailer and the officer...

Considering that the woman was working while her 2 year old child was home alone I would have to assume that this sorry excuse for a parent attended the Andrea Yates Child Care School.

[jonoboy]

15. no 2 ways about this

authorities are to blame..cant blame a poor uneducated mother for not being bright..
if the government slashes welfare programs more and more of this happens