Posted on 02/12/2003 3:20:25 AM PST by Pat Bateman
Mom goes to Italy, leaves six kids home alone
Children now in foster care; police waiting for mother to return
Story by Mike Peters
Police want to talk to a Greeley mother who is accused of leaving her six children alone earlier this month while she took a two-week vacation to Italy with her boyfriend.
No charges have been filed, so the woman's name has not been revealed. Greeley police have recommended child-neglect charges to the Weld District Attorney's Office, which will be deciding if the case warrants criminal charges.
According to police spokesman Sgt. John Gates, the woman left for vacation on Feb. 3, and her oldest child, a 15-year-old daughter, was supposed to be in charge of the others. The other children are 6, 8, 10, 11 and 12 years old.
Police were called to the home in the 2400 block of 17th Avenue on Feb. 4, the day after the mother left. When officers went to the house, the 15-year-old was not at home, and the siblings said she was at a youth group meeting at their church.
The girl returned home while police were there, and she told officers their mother left $7 in cash and her credit card for them to use to buy food.
Officers said there was ample food in the house.
The mother also left each child a contact sheet, with names of people they could call in case of trouble.
However, most of the names were illegible.
The grandmother of the children lives in Denver and was not able to care for the children.
Their father lives in Thornton and is under a restraining order to meet with the children only on supervised visits.
While police were at the Greeley home, two teenage boys came into the house. They were the 15-year-old's boyfriend and a friend of his, officers said.
None of the children knew where their mom was in Italy, although she told them she would e-mail them daily.
Weld County Social Services was called to the home by police, and the children were placed in two foster homes.
Gates said officers are still waiting for the mother to return.
Where is the presumption of liberty in this phras?
Where is this families "right to privacy" from state interference promised in the 9th amendment?
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
Justice Goldberg, Griswold v Connecticutt
"The language and history of the Ninth Amendment reveal that the Framers of the Constitution believed that there are additional fundamental rights, protected from governmental infringement, which exist alongside those fundamental rights specifically mentioned in the first eight constitutional amendments.
The language and history of the Ninth Amendment reveal that the Framers of the Constitution believed that there are additional fundamental rights, protected from governmental infringement, which exist alongside those fundamental rights specifically mentioned in the first eight constitutional amendments.
The entire fabric of the Constitution and the purposes that clearly underlie its specific guarantees demonstrate that the rights to...raise a family are of similar order and magnitude as the fundamental rights specifically protected."
This woman has a fundamental right to raise her family as she fits.
Although I wouldn't do such a thing, I don't see this as abuse, however there should have been at least one responsible adult nearby who the kids rely on.
I think the sandman sprinkled some stuff on me a little while back.
I must say, that when I was left with the responsiblility of my family (post #70), and should there have been a life/death emergency, I could have depended on relatives although they didn’t live in the immediate area. But that never entered my mind at the time. I was responsible and that was it.
Its not unussual for a female to create a situation like this when they don't want custody and they don't want to be seen as giving it up voluntarily.
Legally, no.
What would happen is that she would show up in the ER with the sick kid in tow and the Italy story. The ER triage Nurse would then call Child Protective Services and get legal permission for treatment from them.
The bottom line is that the kid would get treated in the ER but Mom would lose custody of the kids to the State.
Kids who were of school age went to school and didn't squeal to their teachers or call social services complaining that their parents weren't home. In fact, I don't think my sibling would even discuss this vacation arrangement with school officials under any circumstances. School was school, the way a family chose to live was entirely separate and no one's business. At the end of the two weeks, everybody decided that the house really needed a massive cleaning.
This was in the early 70's. My parents didn't think twice about leaving us alone. Today, they would probably be brought up on charges.
ladylib, I cannot add anything to what you have just expressed. You’ve said it all. School was school, the way a family chose to live was entirely separate and no one's business…Today, they would probably be brought up on charges. Extremely sad.
Vacationing mother might be charged with child abuse
Story by Mike Peters
No state law specifies a minimum age that children may be left alone, but the Weld district attorney wants to talk to a mother who took a two-week vacation to Italy.
The mother left her six children alone while she took a vacation with her boyfriend. She is due back Monday, when she will have to explain her actions to police.
The name of the woman hasn't been released to protect her children's identity and because she hasn't yet been charged with a crime.
Police said the woman, who lives in the 2400 block of 17th Avenue — about a block south of the University of Northern Colorado practice fields — left the children at home last week.
The oldest child, a 14-year-old girl, was left in charge of the other children, whose ages are 6, 8, 10, 11 and 12. However, when police went to the house last week to check on the children, the 14-year-old wasn't home.
She returned later and her boyfriend and one of his friends also came to the house. Police originally identified the oldest child as 15, but, on Wednesday, corrected her age to 14.
Police went to the home after receiving a call from a concerned neighbor.
No charges have been filed, but police said the mother might be charged with child abuse in the neglect category of the law.
Under the Colorado State Children's Code, abuse and neglect are in part defined as "any case in which a child is in need of services because the child's parents, legal guardian or custodian fails to take the same actions to provide ... supervision that a prudent parent would take."
In this case, investigators will have to look at the circumstances of the children to determine whether their mother abused or neglected them by leaving for two weeks, Weld District Attorney Al Dominguez said Wednesday.
Police reports stated the mother left the children $7 in cash and her credit card to buy food, plus a list of names of people to call if they needed help.
Most of the names on the list were illegible, police said.
The father of the children lives in Denver. A court order requires that his visits with the children be supervised.
In addition, Dominguez said, the parents are involved in divorce proceedings in which accusations of child abuse are being made back and forth.
Greeley woman left 6 children alone while she vacations in Italy
By Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News
February 13, 2003
Police will be waiting when a Greeley woman who left her six young children alone while vacationing in Italy returns next week.
The woman, whose name hasn't been released, left home Feb. 3 for a two-week trip with her boyfriend, said Sgt. John Gates of the Greeley Police Department.
The children - ages 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 14 - were left in the home alone.
An anonymous caller notified police on Feb. 4, and Weld County Social Services took the youngsters to two foster homes, Gates said Wednesday.
"She had no reason to lie to her children when she left. She said she'd be back in two weeks, so we'll be waiting," Gates said. "Our immediate concern was for the safety of the children."
The woman, believed to be a student at the University of Northern Colorado, put the 14-year-old girl in charge of the other youngsters, left a list of people to contact in an emergency, a refrigerator full of food, a credit card and $7 in cash, Gates said.
"The kids were in good shape and went to school," Gates said. The list of people to contact was unreadable, he said, and the children didn't know anyone who knew their mother. The woman apparently didn't have a job, he said.
Gates said none of the neighbors knew the woman, who has no criminal record.
The children didn't have any information about how to locate their mother, although she'd told them she would e-mail them every day.
"There's a computer in the home, but we don't know if there's an Internet connection," Gates said. "We know virtually nothing about her except what we gleaned from the children. They said she hadn't left like this before."
The children's father lives in Thornton and sees them only rarely, he said. The mother obtained a restraining order against the husband that allows only supervised visits.
Police have recommended that the district attorney file child neglect charges. Gates said that when the woman returns, her name will be released if she's arrested or charged.
The name is being withheld to protect the children, he said.
"We believe she will return, but we don't know if it will be two weeks to the day or that was an estimate she gave the children," said Gates. The family dog also was placed in a shelter temporarily, he said.
When police first went to the home, the oldest daughter's boyfriend and a friend of his came over to help her baby-sit for the evening, Gates said.
Neither boy knew anything about the mother, either.
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