Posted on 02/08/2022 9:09:21 AM PST by grundle
"I almost don't have words for how low it made me feel," says Melissa Henderson.
When COVID-19 shut down her children's daycare in May of 2020, and Melissa Henderson had to go to work, she asked her 14-year-old daughter, Linley, to babysit the four younger siblings. Linley was engaged in remote learning when her youngest brother, four-year-old Thaddeus, spied his friend outside and went over to play with him. It was about 10 or 15 minutes before Linley realized he was missing. She guessed that he must be at his friend's house, and went to fetch him.
In the meantime, the friend's mom had called the police.
Now Henderson, a single mom in Blairsville, Georgia, is facing criminal reckless conduct charges for letting her 14-year-old babysit. The charges carry a maximum penalty of one year in prison and fine of $1,000. The arresting officer, Deputy Sheriff Marc Pilote, wrote in his report that anything terrible could have happened to Thaddeus, including being kidnapped, run over, or "bitten by a venomous snake." (When Henderson protested that the kid was only gone a few minutes, Pilote responded that a few minutes was all the time a venomous snake needed.)
Here is a photo of the busy street and jungle-like conditions Thaddeus faced. That's his buddy's home on the right, photographed by Henderson from her porch.
The case has been dragging on for almost two years now, while Henderson's lawyer, David DeLugas, argues that charging a mom for a normal parenting decision was declared unconstitutional by the Georgia Supreme Court in 1997. In that case, a mom left her 11-year-old babysitting a younger sibling who died in a tragic accident. Even then, the court ruled, it was arbitrary and subjective to call the mom's decision reckless. What's more, DeLugas points out, Georgia's own child protective guidelines say kids can babysit at age 13.
DeLugas is founder of Parents USA, which exists to fight cases like this. Three weeks ago he filed a new motion to dismiss the case.
Henderson had been investigated by the Georgia Division of Family and Children's Services about a year earlier, when Thaddeus, age three at the time, had also wandered outside. She was no longer under DFCS supervision when this second incident occurred. DFCS investigated Henderson's conduct this time around and found it unexceptional, case closed. But Pilote recalled the earlier investigation; believing this proved some sort of pattern, he initiated the arrest about two weeks later.
Five cop cars came to her house, Henderson tells Reason.
"I almost don't have words for how low it made me feel," she says. "To truly feel in the bottom of my heart that, if I'm anything, it's a good mother and everything you do is for your kids. To be stripped of that to the point where you are handcuffed in front of them."
She was placed inside a police cruiser and taken to the county jail, where she was photographed, fingerprinted, and given a pair of bright orange crocs to wear. Then she was put in a cell. "I remember curling up in a ball in the corner and just wanting to hide," she says. Her ex-husband bailed her out.
When I spoke with the district attorney, Jeff Langley, he said he felt the cops acted prudently, as the boy had been outside once before on his own. He added that even a guilty verdict would most likely not result in prison time for Henderson, but thought that forbidding her from letting her daughter babysit might be a good idea. "We just want to make sure the children in our small community stay safe," he says.
Langley said he believed the boy was "wandering naked in a thunderstorm." In reality, while the boy was wearing only a shirt, there was no storm.
Langley added the officers informed him that 14-year-old Linley had "some measure of learning disability," making her an unreliable sitter.
Henderson told me that her daughter was previously diagnosed with ADHD. She has a GPA of 4.45, is vice president of the 4-H Club, broke school records in varsity track, completed the Red Cross Childcare program, and is certified in CPR.
Nonetheless, it shouldn't be necessary to have a superstar teen before a parent can make hasty childcare arrangements during a pandemic. That's why Let Grow is working to narrow states' neglect laws, ensuring that they kick in only when parents put their kids in likely and obvious danger, not when they make a decision a cop or caseworker disapproves of.
As for the incident itself, four is definitely on the young side. The boy's parents would be well-advised to remind him not to go outside without telling anyone. But a kid "wandering off" to play with the neighbor used to be considered childhood, not child abuse.
There is a GoFundMe for the Hendersons here.
Marc PILOTE is a HORRIBLE person..STUpid, EVIL??? DISGUSTING DEMOCRAT!
I read this story earlier this morning and became thoroughly disgusted, the Jack Booted Thug belongs in PRISON, but how does one put a stop to crap like this?
My first suggestion would be, anytime a citizen sees the child of a Police Officer unattended for ANY reason or any length of time more than 30 seconds would be to call 911 and CPS and File a Report of Abandonment and Child Abuse
the friend’s mom had called the police
The friends mom needs a little reminder of how people in a civilized society act.
The political class, not just Dems, are drunk with power. We saw it in Ohio with governor DeWine. Given how complacent the public has become, I think this is ok. In fact, I’d like to see a LOT more of it. Either people will wake up, or they’ll get exactly what they deserve, good and hard.
This case would have been thrown out long ago by a competent judge.
It appears that Blairsville, Georgia, has such a shortage.
Wait. A kid isn’t allowed to be outside the house on his own? Jeeez. The CPA is a fascist racket.
Soon to be somehow seized. STOP USING BIG TECH!
Blairsville GA has some very nice, high end mountain home communities. Perhaps some Asheville A$$HOLES have invaded the local government there.
Otherwise that’s deep in the heart of red north GA.
As always, in a divorce, there may be more to this story.
Neighbor called the police? Neighbors used to call parents.
Sounds as if the ADHD diagnosis resulted from an extremely bright kid stuck in a dumbed-down curriculum.
Is this an overreaction by Jack Booted Thugs? Absolutely.
But consider the fact that the mother should not have left a mentally slow child in charge of other children. Consider the fact that this was not the first time there was an incident like this.
This mother clearly needs help. I hope somehow someway she gets her act together.
That’s ridiculous
I babysitter my little brother when I was 11-12
6-7th grade
He was wee
Please identify the tree with white flowers on the right side of the picture.
“As always, in a divorce, there may be more to this story.”
Maybe but the ex-husband bailed her out. It sounds like the neighborhood Karen and the usual out of control CPA. Karens love to cause trouble and the CPAs are Gestapo organizations.
I’d set up cameras to watch the neighbor, read the local zoning codes and report every offense.
Who did the state have watching the kids while Mom was in jail?
But shut up, because reasons, I guess.
Having a diagnosis merits more financing for the schools
Let me guess: Is her name Karen?
Read the thread and comments, Karen.
Not a mentally slow child.
I am glad I grew up in the 1950s before the government got so involved in people’s lives.
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