Reply #14: I had a kid in therapy who had something similar happen when she was 4 [View All]

[politicat]

Her mother was picked up and no bail was set and she was sent to jail for pre-trial. The mother told anyone and everyone she could that her 4 year old was at home, but no one paid any attention. (Mom had left girl with neighbor for the 15 min it was supposed to take to run to store, but IIRC, got pulled over for a traffic violation and arrested for something else; it's been a while. It was AZ - breathing is sometimes a criminal offense if you're not white and Mormon in certain parts of AZ.)

My client was at home alone for 10 days before her mother was released. (No near family.) I had my client's CPS file - a report was made, but no one ever came to investigate. My client lived on poptarts, dry cereal, fruit and veggies and the milk and stuff in the fridge. By the time CPS did show up, my client's mom was home and things were back to semi-normal.

Sometimes it IS the state's fault. I don't know the particulars of the case here, but if CPS is understaffed, they may have known but not been able to do anything. So I'm just saying....

Pcat