Whoa damn!

Okay… Another whoa damn moment for the week.

A two year old girl was left alone in her mother’s apartment while the mother was sent to jail. Apparently the father of the child did not discover that the mother was in jail for two weeks, meanwhile this little girl somehow managed to stay alive by eating dried pasta, ketchup and jelly.

Some questions arise from this scenario. How in the hell did the police in Jacksonville manage to not notice that the child was left alone in the apartment? Why didn’t the mother tell authorities that her daughter was there and that the child’s father needed to be contacted? Once in jail, why didn’t the mother request permission to call the father and let him know that the little girl was locked in her apartment by herself? Why weren’t child welfare services concerned about the whereabouts of the child, as in a separation, some legal custody had to have been filed regarding all of this? Also, in a divorce proceeding, isn’t the court required to notify the non-custodial parent if the custodial parent ends up in jail?

It sounds to me like a lot of people fucked up, not just the mother of the child, granted, she fucked up royally, but others should have been concerned for the whereabouts of the child besides the father. This little girl barely stayed alive thanks to the court systems, police departments and governmental agencies screwing up, let alone the mother’s sheer idiocy in leaving the child alone in the first place.

The mother isn’t the only one that should be charged with child abuse and neglect here.