3 a.m. today, found a 5-year-old girl and her 2-year-old brother wandering the streets in pajamas

[joeybee12]

I was heading out to feed my feral colonies, and was heading out earlier than usual, and was taking the bus from the gym into work, so I was walking, and therefore taking a different route than if I was driving. Saw them up ahead and kept my eye, trying to see if they were following an adult, after it was clear they weren't I caught up with them. The little girl, Adrienne, was crying because "Mommy went to get ice cream." The little boy, AJ, thought it was an adventure and kept talking to me about God knows what...he wasn't really able to speak clearly or form sentences yet. Fortunately I had both a jacket on and a sweatshirt underneath that for them to cover themselves. I talked to them a bit, didn't get much other than Mommy went to get ice cream and she wished Mommy had taken them. There was a nearby security booth at a complex, so we went there and they didn't recognize the kids, and when we asked where they lived, Adrienne said, "Over there" and pointed, but it really wasn't at anything. So, we called Metro since this is probably child abandonment. Like I said, the little boy thought it was an adventure, he was too young to realize what was going on, but the girl at least knew something was wrong. I told her she was a good big sister taking care of her brother so well.

Not much else to say other than boy, does this suck. This is obviously very, very upsetting. I have some contacts so I'll follow up later and get an update, but at least they're not on the streets in their pajamas at 3 a.m. when it's 40 degrees out. I keep thinking that maybe parent(s) will try and find them later, and they'll get them back, although how good can that be for the kids? Hopefully there's a foster home available. Wherever they go, I going to have to find out so I can get them some presents for Christmas...it's only a week away when this happens to them.

We humans can really suck.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

1. OMG joeybee12!!! You're my hero! Those poor children. I hope everthing works out for

them.

Please keep us posted...

[myrna minx]

2. Those poor babies.

I'm so glad you were there to help them. I have no words...

[eShirl]

3. Maybe something happened to the mother

foul play, accident or a medical issue

whatever the situation, poor little kids

[redqueen]

19. I was thinking that too...

Whatever happened, I hope it works out ok for those poor kids. Glad joeybee found them and not some creep.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

35. really. you're not kidding.

Glad joeybee will be keeping up on them.

Poor little things.

[Drew Richards]

93. Mommy went to get ice cream and they are out at 3am. Something bad comes this way...

[Phlem]

94. That last sentence brings tears to my eyes.

Says the father of a little girl.

Just breath..... slowly, deeply, slowly...

an after school event left her no where to be found for 15 minutes. Even the late to leave were going. Poof, "I was in the bathroom, I really had to go!"

It felt like I was wearing my heart on my sleeve and it was going to burst.

F

-p

[MADem]

101. That's what I'm thinking.

Momma goes out for cigarettes, and gets jacked, or something. Does that "take a chance" thing and leaves the kids alone and sleeping for ten minutes, only she doesn't come home.

At least the children are in a safe place.

[sharp_stick]

4. I'm really glad you were there

I hope it wasn't abandonment but some misunderstanding or screwup.

[FourScore]

5. I am grateful you found them.

I know how upset you must be. This is a very sad and upsetting story. so sad...

[villager]

6. Good God, Joeybee. I kept hoping there'd be some twist where your headline would somehow..

...turn out to be something different than what it was, but of course it didn't. Man that does suck. Glad you were the one who came across them though. Keep us posted...

[BrotherIvan]

7. What a sad sad story

Please keep us updated. They're in my thoughts for a happy ending.

[HappyMe]

8. Lucky for those kids that you were there.

I hope this has a positive outcome.

[randome]

9. Go on you for taking care of this as much as you could!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[frazzled]

10. Yeah, really tough moral decision there

Without knowing the particulars, it's hard to know whether Child Protection Services should be involved (which will probably mean removal of the kids from the home) or not. Maybe there was something urgent and "Mommy" had to leave in the night and thought the children would be okay. Not good, but maybe not cause to take away her children. More likely, "Mommy" was up to no good and/or abandoned her kids.

You did the right thing--the only thing--you could do. Let us know if you find out anything. I can bet you're shaken up.

[haele]

42. Mommy may have also been overwhelmed and left because she reached her last straw.

Stress, depression or other mental problems can be a bitch, and if she was a single mom at the end of her rope, she might have chose to run away rather than inflict that stress on her children.

Or she could have actually gone out for ice cream while in the process of trying to get them to go to bed, and returned after they fell asleep. If they the last thing they heard was "I'll go out to get ice cream", they may not have thought to look for her in the house when one of them woke the other up early at two/three in the morning.
There are a lot of things that could have happened, we won't know unless the OP finds out through either a news report or if s/he check up on it.

See, the one time I went out wandering at four in the morning in my PJ's, I was almost five and sleep-walking - and my parents were asleep in their bedroom after a hard day's work and woke up when the police knocked on the open front door at five or so to return me home (I knew the apartment number and knew what my complex looked like and the direction it was in from where they found me).
I was found almost a mile away, and was only starting to get cold (Berkley in the early fall), so they think I was only out for about 15/20 minutes. I think I remember some of it, but most I think I remember the story as my parents told it.
The story is that when I was found I had told the police is that I was out looking for my dog (we didn't have a dog) that had gotten out and was going to get hit by a train if I didn't find her, and that I couldn't find Mommy and Daddy at home so I went out because she was going to get run over...
Mom and Dad were asleep in their bedroom behind the kitchen. I slept in a den/office off the front room/dining area across from the kitchen. They never heard the front door open. And they never slept with their bedroom door completely closed after that.

Haele

[frazzled]

52. You're lucky you got back!

And that the police were understanding. I bet that story gets told at family get-togethers a lot!

[laundry_queen]

63. omg, you were so lucky...

What happened to you was something that scared the shit out of me as a parent when my kids were little. We lived pretty far up north (northern Alberta and BC, Canada) and in the winter it was regularly -45 for a few weeks. The rest of the time it was -30. My kids were ALL prone to sleepwalking even though that's something I had never, ever done as a child or adult and I lived in terror that they would sneak out of the house while I was asleep. One year, an 18-month old child in a neighboring community froze to death in her backyard because she snuck out while her mom was napping. That same year another baby was brought back from the brink of death in a similar situation in another city.

I didn't sleep very well in those years. The smallest sound woke me up pretty quickly. I always made sure the door was locked and we had dogs that would've (hopefully) barked when they heard an outside door open but I knew there was always a chance a child could slip out.

How fortunate it ended well for you. And hopefully for the kids the OP wrote about, maybe they snuck out while the mom was sleeping? Please, OP, keep us updated if you find out anything.

[lumberjack_jeff]

61. It's not tough at all.

If the mom was in an accident or something that prevented her from coming back to her unattended kids, the CPS workers can evaluate the situation.

If the intervention means "probable removal of the kids" then that is what should happen.

[Heather MC]

95. If it turns out Mommy left these Children alone

I am glad they will be taken away.

I want to naively believe, they woke up and wondered out the door while their parents slept

Have to wait and see

[Sgent]

103. How is this

a "tough moral decision".

The only moral decision when finding a 5 and 3 year old out wandering the street alone, in their PJs, at 4am is to call CPS.

CPS is staffed by social workers who do exactly that -- evaluate the situation and determine what, if any interventions should be made. Calling them doesn't mean that the children are taken away, it means that a licensed social worker will evaluate the children, their needs, and their safety.

I know multiple CPS workers, and their last option is removal of children from the home except in truly extreme cases -- and even they they heavily favor placement with a relative or other adult already in the child's life. They know better than most the conditions of foster care and temporary shelters.

[frazzled]

104. Decision was perhaps the wrong word

There was no other choice (which I clearly said in my post). I meant "tough moral situation."

And I know of thousands of cases where bad decisions have been made by the authorities: in both directions (kids who were left with abusive parents and died--you read these stories every day; or kids that were taken away unfairly. And even if the decisions were good at the time, the "bad" parent often can never get their kids back, no matter what changes they make in their lives. I heard a long radio documentary on this a few months ago, and it was pretty heartbreaking. The system is also skewed in terms of race and class--overwhelmingly.

So don't try to tell me there are clear-cut decisions in every child protection case. It's simply false, 100% false. And the CPS workers are NOT always right, despite your protestations to the contrary.

The OP did what was absolutely necessary, but we have NO idea about this situation.

[KittyWampus]

11. Glad you were there to help.

[Raine1967]

12. joeybee12, I am grateful for people like you.

Those babies could have been found by an awful person instead of you.

I would love to give you more than a virtual hug, but this will have to do: :group:

Yes we humans can sometimes really suck, but there are more people like you than the shitty ones.

Peace to you and yours, joeybee12.

Raine

[Hell Hath No Fury]

13. Please let us know what more --

you find out. So sad for the kids, regardless of the hows/whys.

[Le Taz Hot]

14. Oh, man,

THANK YOU for taking time to save these two precious little ones AND for taking care of feral colonies. You've got some GREAT karma coming to you, joeybee. Child abandonment is something that hits home for me. Again, THANK YOU for caring enough about them to ensure they were out of the cold and protected.

[HockeyMom]

15. Similar with a special needs boy I worked with

His Mom went on a "date" and his older brother (18) was supposed to sit with him. His brother, another piece of work, never showed up. Mom didn't stay and wait until his brother came over. She also didn't fix him dinner before she left, so he ate dog biscuits for dinner. When his brother didn't show up, Tommy went out looking for him at 3 AM dressed only in his underwear and barefoot. Fortunately, this was in Florida and he didn't get hypothermia. A police squad car found him and brought him into the precinct.

It did have a very good ending. Mom was arrested and charged for this, and other charges. His Dad got sole custody and the difference in Tommy's life afterward was so, so much better.

As bad as his experience was, sometimes things do work out for the better.

[progressoid]

16. May not have been abandonment.

Mom may have actually gone for ice cream. She may have only been gone for a few minutes and they went after her - kids don't always understand time.

Regardless, you did a wonderful thing.

On edit: I just saw that this happened at 3:00 in the morning. That's odd.

[TrogL]

22. You do NOT leave kids that age home alone even for a minute

In my jurisdiction, somebody at least 13 years old needs to be there.

[Ed Suspicious]

29. 13 is a pretty arbitrary number, but point taken. Those kids were too young to be left alone.

[woodsprite]

54. Where I grew up, 13yo was the youngest you could babysit for kids or be left alone in your house.

I used it as a guideline for my own munchkins. My son is less mature than my daughter was at 13yo and I wouldn't leave him alone in the house unless I positively had to run to the corner or the neighbors for an emergency. He's been skittish since the tree fell through the house (because he was in the room at the time -- and I can certainly understand that). But he's also been a fanatic lately about checking locks ever since hearing about break-ins in our neighborhood (not us, or even close to us) -- after dinner, before he goes to bed, if he hears dad taking the dog outside (because he doesn't always close/lockup tight) -- he checks at least a couple of times a night.

I just wouldn't put him through the stress of leaving him alone yet. Maturity-wise, he's always seemed about 2 yrs behind where my daughter was at his age.

[fishwax]

59. 13 seems a pretty high minimum for being left alone

I can understand that as a minimum age for babysitting little ones, but most kids I knew growing up were left alone at times well before 13. I was home alone much earlier than that, after school and in the summers especially. But I didn't have any younger siblings to take care of.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

98. that's interesting...

when i was a child i was at home alone every weekday afternoon from 3:30 until about 5:00... typical latchkey kid. i had very hard and fast rules about what was and was not allowed. i was seven when this began and went well into my teen years.

sP

[SomethingFishy]

64. Yeah in Colorado it's 12 but I know 12 year olds who shouldn't be alone

and 10 year olds that could run a household...

[sibelian]

17. Bravo to You joeybee

You are an example to us all!

I wonder if something happened to the mother?

Hope it all goes well in the end, although it's difficult to see how that might be...

Poor kids...

[stevenleser]

18. Glad you were there. I hope this somehow turns out.

Very sad.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

20. Can you keep us updated on the progress of this mystery? I hope it has a happy ending -

I wonder what has happened with the Mother. Thank goodness you saw them, Joeybee12

[JNelson6563]

21. We humans can be magnificent.

So kind of you to feed the kitties and save the kiddies! Pretty well-rounded hero resume you have there!

Julie

[get the red out]

41. Yes

I need to see good guys being good; there is way too much of the other in view online.

[Wait Wut]

23. "We humans can really suck."

Some can, but after reading this, many of them can be quite compassionate. I'm going to focus on that, today.

Thank you for helping those babies. Hopefully, they'll find a family member that can watch over them. If not, let's hope they find a wonderful foster family that will give them the love and attention that they deserve.

Just do me a favor, don't dwell on the suck and focus instead on the people like you this world is lucky to have around.

[In_The_Wind]

24. Thanks for being one human in their life that doesn't suck.

I hope those poor children have family to take them in. It would be horrible for them to be in foster care at Christmas!

[niyad]

25. thank you for being there. so glad it was you, and not someone creepy or sick. please do let

us know what, if anything, you find out. and thank you for your work with the ferals, as well. many blessings to you for both.

[TBF]

26. Wow, what a sad story -

after working in a short-term mental institution for awhile I know that foster care isn't always the best option either. Thank you for doing what you could to take care of them. I'll be interested in hearing what happens if you are able to find out.

[intaglio]

27. Thank you

and fondest hopes for the children

[elleng]

28. Thank goodness you were there, joeybee12.

[Yavin4]

30. Good on you, Joey. Also, don't you find a lot of lost pets as well?

Where do you live?

[calimary]

31. Oh MAN, joeybee12! Thank God you were there!

There's so much that could have gone even worse for this little ones. Thank God you were there! Just heartbreaking - any time of year but especially at Christmas. Thank you for being such a compassionate (and observant) person.

Yeah, we humans can really suck. Too true. Until we're reminded that there are humans out there like you.

[PassingFair]

32. My older brother and I were returned to my parents by strangers.

When we were toddlers, my older brother used to wake me up to take me
to "see the horses".

Our subdivision was in a partly rural area, and there was a horse farm
some blocks away.

My parents always told the story about being awakened by unknown
neighbors, in their bedroom, holding us by the hand and explaining
that we were found wandering the streets in the wee hours of the morning.

My parents were deep sleepers.

I remember NONE of it.

[heaven05]

33. that's really sad

natural love for one's child is missing from both mother and father. I hope those children end up living in a warm, safe and loving environment.

[Barack_America]

34. Sounds like drugs.

Thank God you were there to put their needs first, as their mother seems incapable of doing so.

How sad. I shudder to think what could have happened to them.

[abelenkpe]

36. You did good

I'm so happy you found them! Please update us on what happens and if we can send presents too. Those poor kids. Hope they find a safe loving home.

[Auggie]

37. +1,000,000,000,000 joey

[democrank]

38. K & R

Bless you.

[Egnever]

39. we humans can really suck.....

Yes and I would say jumping to the conclusion that the children were abandoned sucks.

Kids are funny and sometimes they do crazy stuff. Stuff like taking their little brother out for an adventure at 3 in the morning while mom and dad are sleeping.

I am glad you got them off the street but less than enthused with you jumping to the conclusion that the parents suck.

[azurnoir]

40. Good thing you were there similar thing has happened to me

actually twice years ago-first time I came home from work I was waiting tables in a 24 hour place and worked a 5 pm to 3 am shift, 2 kids sitting outside my apartment building - they knew exactly where they lived the apartment door was not locked, so I took them inside asked if they were hungry-they were-no food in the house luckily I lived in the same building, grabbed some stuff from my apt and fed them, tucked them into bed I had established mom was out partying - maybe-Uncle ???? can't remember had taken her to a party-could also have been a pimp though waited till Mom got home-we had some words and it never ever happened again-I kept watch

then second time was simpler, living in double bungalow I noticed the neighbors sons car parked outside nothing unusual but something was moving in the car it was winter below zero outside on closer inspection I realized it was the sons kid we got him out of the car brought him in fed him dinner and waited for Dad or Grandpa to get home story it seems was that Dads girlfriend had both his car and kid-while he was at work-they got into it about something and she abandoned both outside the house-she endangered the little kids life by leaving him but that one had a good ending

In your case I doubt they were actually abandoned outside Mom was elsewhere though partying or sadly at work I know my Blue state (MN) has cut child care subsidies to the point and raised work requirements for public assistance where for some there is little choice but to leave kids alone or starve

I chose not to involve social services because during my own years as a teen and young adult had met several women who had been in the foster care system in Mpls they had the same story-sexual abuse by either the foster Dad or another male in the household-so that was not a ready choice

[Aldo Leopold]

43. Actually, your post shows just how wonderful humans can be.

[Buns_of_Fire]

44. It breaks my heart to hear stories like this.

On the other hand, you helped give it a happy ending. You done good, and thank whatever there are people like you around.

[loudsue]

45. Joeybee.....you're the bee's knees!

Thank you for getting those kids some warmth and shelter! I wish for the best outcome for those kids, and even for the mom. I hope she hasn't met with foul play, or didn't meet with an accident or illness.

Good grief. What a mess! And you, my friend, are such a blessing ...to those kids, to the kitties, and to all of us.

[DeSwiss]

46. Human angels.....

...are more numerous than some think.

- Good on ya.

K&R

[ReRe]

47. So much for speculation...

What we do know is that you came along and found the little darlings just in time. I do hope you can find out more after the fact, like where their caretakers were and how you can get them something for Christmas.
I cringe at what might have happened to them had you not come along.

[SheilaT]

48. My younger son was always very independent.

The summer before first grade he spent a lot of time exploring our neighborhood, a nice safe suburban middle class area. I knew he'd made friends with a brother and sister -- she was son's age, the brother a year or so younger. I'll call them Steve and Sarah (not their real names). Anyway, toward the end of summer son started talking about a midnight party that was going to take place with Steve and Sarah.

One evening, around 11:30 or so, I thought I heard a noise on our stairs, but didn't bother to investigate. A little later we (husband and I) went up to bed, but were still awake reading when the doorbell rang. When we opened the door, there was a man we'd never seen before, holding our son's hand and saying, "Is this your son?"

Turned out the noise I'd heard was son sneaking downstairs, and he slipped outside quietly enough that I never heard a door open or close. He was apparently very surprised that Steve and Sarah weren't waiting up to hold the midnight party.

We were secretly rather proud that he'd actually done this, but told him that if a policeman had found him out in the middle of the night, they would have thought we were very bad parents and he'd have to go into foster care. I presented foster care as not very nice, stressed that he wouldn't have his toys and books, and they probably wouldn't know to fix his favorite foods.

We also went over to visit the parents the next day to present ourselves, to let them know that we weren't in favor of our kid going to their house and midnight, and that we were grounding him to the house for the next two weeks.

Anyway, as other stories have been related, sometimes a kid gets away from home in a relatively innocent manner. No matter what, it's a very good thing you came along and rescued these two. I also want to know the follow up.

Oh. Another story. Once, many many years ago, I was walking to work one morning. My route took me past a Catholic school, and as I walked by I saw a little boy, maybe six or seven, in the empty front yard, crying. His mother had apparently just dropped him off, unaware that it was some sort of holiday for the school. I was pretty young myself (only 18) and I wasn't entirely sure what to do, but I was getting ready to take him to my workplace when the mother showed up and claimed him.

So I'd guess that relatively trivial examples of kids out wandering happens more often than we'd realize, and most of the time all ends well.

[malaise]

49. Thanks joeybee12

[herding cats]

50. You are a kind and wonderful person.

Zero suckage where you're concerned.

[nolabear]

51. What a wonderful thing you did. And please update. This can happen for all kinds of reasons.

Little ones can certainly be victims of terrible neglect but they can also do some astonishing things. I hope this was one of those astonishing things and they have a good and safe home, but I'll wait to hear.

[another_liberal]

53. I hope this story has a happy ending for the innocent ones involved.

A question:

By your "Feral colonies" do you mean feral cats?

[Phlem]

55. Sounds like you were in the right place at the right time.

This does suck to no end.

Good job joeybee12 .

keep us updated!

-p

PS.. I have PTSD from very early that ended up being long term abuse. I'm almost 50 and have grown up to this day not trusting any my elders. Unfortunately I've been right about that decision a lot of times.

[Xyzse]

56. I'm glad you were there.

That is just heart breaking.

[spanone]

57. k&r...

[colsohlibgal]

58. What's Wrong With Some People?

This story is heartbreaking and thankfully you, obviously kind, found them. It's just so upsetting. As pointed out in the dialogue of the movie "Parenthood" you need a license to own a dog but anyone can bring a child into the world, ready, willing, able, or none of those things.

[fishwax]

60. I'm glad you came along to find them, joey

I can imagine that must have been upsetting. Be well.

[lpbk2713]

62. I'm glad you were the one to find them.

Who knows what could have ...

I hate to think.

[SomethingFishy]

65. Yes humans can suck, but you have proven that they can also

be compassionate and loving. At 3am they were lucky it was you that found them.

[Little Star]

66. Thank heavens you found them, Good on you joeybee12!

[cate94]

67. Thank you for being there.

Thank you for helping those kids and going out of your way to do it. Sometimes people suck, but people like you give me hope.

[Demo_Chris]

68. WELL DONE! Bloody well done! nt

[kiva]

69. Glad you found them, joeybee

Hope there is an explanation that doesn't involve abuse and they have a home.

[SmittynMo]

70. Soon, 1.3M more people will be subjected to

this kind of victimization. Thank you Republicans.

Get these people out of office...... Yesterday would be fine by me.

[NastyRiffraff]

71. You are a wonderful person, joeybee

So glad you found them; not only found them but did something about the situation. As many others have said, please keep us informed.

[hedgehog]

72. Thank you for stopping to take care of these children.

[neffernin]

73. My faith in humanity weakens daily

especially reading this site; being informed is painful. Ignorance is bliss.

[urbuddha]

74. Wishing Joeybee12 and these children many wonderful blessings.

May you all have many wonderful blessings. Thank you Joeybee12.

[4bucksagallon]

75. This reminds me of the little boy and his dog that showed up at my door.

I lived in a very rural area in Maine and at the end of a discontinued road miles from town. There was an apple orchard bordering my land but almost a half mile of woods separated my land and the orchard. Anyway my wife and I were home this particular morning and something scratching at the door caught my attention. I asked my wife if she heard it and she said no but we listened and heard it again. So I went to open the door and to our surprise there was this little blond headed boy in training diapers, or pants nothing else on and there was this big friendly dog. The dog was the one scratching at the door and the boy was just standing there looking up at us. The boy was shivering from the earl morning chill and my wife and I were both shocked, we took them in and we wrapped the little boy in a big fluffy towel to warm him up and I started hearing helicopters off in the distance, they were circling and by now we could well imagine what they were looking for. My wife is from the Philippines and her reaction to all this made me LOL, after getting this child warmed up and before I called 911, she looked at me and said with a deadpan expression "we found him, can't we keep him". After I got my laughter under control I told her we have to call 911 because this is what all those choppers were looking for. I called and less than 5 minutes later the Game Wardens, State Police and Sheriffs Deputies and an ambulance were at the house and the choppers were circling overhead. The boy was fine, just chilled and scratched from the raspberry and blackberry bushes he must have walked through on his journey to our house. We found out later that the mother was sleeping and the child just wandered away and the faithful dog went with him and may have saved his life, beyond our house there is nothing for over a mile but deep woods. My wife even after all the good will from the police about "great job", finding the kid when in fact we did not find him the dog found us. When we were finally alone again my wife said "I still think we should have kept him", LOL. We still talk about that to this day. I retraced some of this kids route since I had a general direction that he came from I found their tracks in the mud on the edge of my pond out back. I showed them to my wife and she started to cry. It was kind of sad to think of this little boy and his dog alone in the woods, but he had the best friend any little boy could have. That dog. The odd thing is about all this there was no report in the paper or on the news about the intensive hunt for this little boy, to me that was very odd.

[Jefferson23]

78. Amazing story...your wife sounds amazing too. n/t

[okaawhatever]

85. Great story. nt

[tblue37]

91. The dog knew to "knock" on your door to get help for his little charge. nt

[TRoN33]

76. As a father of two...

You are truly a hero for what you Has done for kids. I feel so bad for these little kids! Hope they are alright and sleep in warm bed.

Honest to God, I can't imagine how difficult for that girl who really understood what is going on.

[Squinch]

77. Well, you don't suck. They were lucky you were there.

[4 t 4]

80. tjoeybee12 I am such a paranoid freak

I don't believe this. Why have you not responded to anyone on this thread ? Are you there?

[niyad]

89. did you read the part where the OP was headed to work? exactly why are you so paranoid? and

what does that have to do with this thread?

[Squinch]

106. Why did you address this to me?

[Jefferson23]

79. You did good...all lost kids should be so lucky, joeybee. n/t

[4 t 4]

81. I apologize again for being so cynical

I can't help it. People that do really great things in a dire situation are usually to traumatized to report ???

[Jefferson23]

82. I am not sure what you mean..too traumatized to report the good deed?

[tandot]

83. How heart breaking ... thankfully, they ran into you

Having an almost 5-year old, this is utterly heart breaking

Please post an update if you find out more.

[Liberal_in_LA]

84. Poor kids.

[sakabatou]

86. Good on you

Give us an update if you can.

[bench scientist]

87. i'm glad you found them joeybee12

world needs more people like you

[ClusterFreak]

88. Sometimes it may seem that the good people are outnumbered by the bad...

...and then your faith is reassured when you hear about people like yourself. What you did reaffirms to me the basic goodness and decency of the vast majority of people in this world. It was a small yet intensely significant gesture of human kindness and responsibility which led you to do what you did for those two little ones. Sometimes you have to make lightning decisions in life.... such as "Do I get involved or do I just look away?" Not everyone gets involved but thank goodness there are enough people out there who do. You're one of them and you should be proud. So should your friends and family, and everyone here at DU.

You didn't help those kids out because you wanted to go tell people what a great guy you are... you did it because you instinctually knew right from wrong and you chose right.

God bless you pal and have a great Christmas and New Year.

[pnwmom]

90. I've twice stopped unaccompanied toddlers from stepping out into dark parking lots.

And had to find their responsible adults. (One of the times it was a mall child-care place that had lost one of their non-verbal charges -- and didn't even know it.) It made me sick to think what could have happened to them. Sometimes I think we're meant to be in a certain spot at a certain time.

I'm so glad you were alert at that time of night, and responsible enough to stop.

Good for you!!!

[gopiscrap]

92. this same thing happened to my wife and I

a 4 year old and a 2 year old holding hands and dirty as can be, were wandering (9 years ago in front of our apartment) we took them in bathed them, fed them and gave them some of our daughters clothes, towards evening it was obvious the mom and or dad weren't coming to get them. CPS had to be called and they took them and they were then put into the foster system. Broke my heart that we couldn't keep them.

[riqster]

96. My God. Thank you for being there.

Hope it ends well, and will be waiting for an update.

[Barack_America]

97. Sort of dying for an update here.

The fate of these kids is haunting me just a little bit, and I can't seem to find anything in the news about it.

[stevenleser]

105. Same here. nt

[dembotoz]

99. thank you for being there

[WCLinolVir]

100. How disheartening. A big hug to you and those poor children.

[kentuck]

102. Where is this??

This is terrible.