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Hell of a Sunday

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by ScribePharisee, Sep 22, 2009.

  1. ScribePharisee

    ScribePharisee New Member

    So I'm out edging and a neighbor lady runs up holding this 2 year old....asking me if I know who in the neighborhood he belongs to. I have no idea...well, my wife and her walk back and knock on the door, thinking the mom is inside. Turns out the door was left open by the kid getting out...the kid has been in the garage from the looks of things for a couple of hours....he's also hot and exposed to the sun a bit much. They yell inside the cracked door ....no one answers.

    They return to our front yard and we're all thinking someone is dead inside that house. I call 9-1-1. The cop goes down there...yells inside the door. Again, nothing. He calls for backup before entering. Now, at this point, my skin is crawling.

    About 10 minutes later, both cops come out with a grisly looking guy. I've never met the man before...he works third shift. Turns out he fell asleep HARD, wasn't feeling good and the kid figured out how to get out of the house.

    Now he and his wife, the latter who zipped down the street apparently from work, are incensed because the issue goes to Child Protective Services for review and they are already struggling to make ends meet because of their job situations and having to work separate and new shifts at new jobs.. The cop had to take statements from me (as the caller and thus the primary witness), so it looks like it's my act alone. He said he would eventually get a report from the woman who first noticed the kid out.

    I can understand their embarrassment but their anger? I mean if I had fallen asleep and my kid at 2 gets out, I'd thank God someone found him before he got run over or kidnapped.

    What's your thoughts?
     
  2. KYSportsWriter

    KYSportsWriter Well-Known Member

    Methinks they're more angry CPS is getting involved, unless I'm not catching something in your post.
     
  3. ScribePharisee

    ScribePharisee New Member

    Or maybe they're mad CPS is getting involved because we called. Well, so be it. The kid gets run over, they're mad every time they buy a carton of milk.
     
  4. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    This is the reason I put chain latches on my doors when the kids were little, so the little critters couldn't roam.
     

  5. They got to be mad at somebody and it sure ain't going to be themselves.
     
  6. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    The officer may have been a little quick with the CPS call.

    You did what you had to do.
     
  7. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    I'm just surprised you edge. No one in my neighborhood edges.
     
  8. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    The cop was probably mandated to call CPS. It sucks for the parents if it just happened to be one of those things that happen to parents, but the cop needs to cover all his bases.

    You did the right thing, Scribe. Better to have the parents pissed off at you for the CPS call than seeing something tragic happen.
     
  9. Bad Guy Zero

    Bad Guy Zero Active Member

    I'm not sure what's happened in the past 30 years. I don't recall kids being run over in driveways by their parents. I don't recall kids dying because their parents forgot to get them out of the car. I don't recall kids wandering the streets because their parents didn't properly secure a door.

    Maybe these things did happen back then and it just didn't get the attention it does now. Or maybe it's that people took better care of their children back then. I don't know. All I know is that there's a lot of people in the world today that have/had no business reproducing.
     
  10. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    It's the former. People just pay more attention.

    And while it's perfectly appropriate to call the police when a two-year-old is on the loose, it gets out of hand fast. Parents who want their kids to legitimately learn to handle themselves and be independent enough to walk to school start to get the police called on them, and no amount of statistics or facts will convince the howlers that we aren't in some dark era with pedophiles lurking around every corner.
     
  11. Shark_Juumper

    Shark_Juumper Member

    Cops are mandated reporters in my state. If they even suspect neglect and don't report it, they can be fired.

    Any idea if this is the family's first CPS call?

    If this is the first call to CPS on this family a caseworker will follow up and/or they have to go to parenting classes.

    Now if CPS calls are pattern they are in for more trouble. And it might explain why they are mad at you and not embarrassed.
     
  12. sportsguydave

    sportsguydave Active Member

    Good call, Scribe. You can't be too careful.

    I can understand the parents' frustration ... but they have no right to be angry at you. I'm a licensed foster parent, and in my experience, many of these people don't ever want to take responsibility for their actions or the lack thereof. It's always someone else's fault. If you need to sleep while the wife works, get some day care. There are programs to help with that.
     
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