Neglect of kids

Via the Pioneer Press, a mother who left her 2 year-old and 4 year-old alone for a lengthy period of time has pled guilty to gross misdemeanor child neglect. Her four year-old son had been found outside with out shoes or a shirt at 2 AM in 34 degree weather. One's heart aches whenever these stories surface.

Almost a year ago, I saw another incidence of apparent child neglect. As I looked out the window of my office over the busy Rice Street in St. Paul, I see a man charging to the middle of the street and grabbing a small boy. He thrust him quickly, and out of the path of an on-coming car. Several cars stopped briefly as the man brought the boy to safety.

I go downstairs to see what happened. The boy, about 4 years old, is now standing across the street with a different man, who had pulled over in his car. The boy had on an open jacket in below freezing weather. After watching a few minutes, I go outside, with a bottle of water for the boy. (I had no snacks at hand.) The man is an off-duty firefighter. There are no signs of parents or other adults responsible for this child. He has the boy sitting in the backseat of his parked car and tells me that he called the police, but that the police told them it'd be a while. (Apparently there was some other big emergency in the neighborhood occupying all available cops.) The boy is sitting there silently, but a bit happy to be wearing a real firefighter helmet grabbed out of the trunk.

I keep an eye from the building for a while. Maybe after a half hour or so, the police do arrive. I don't see what happens next.

About two weeks later, in front of the building, I think I see the same boy in the same jacket across the street. (I didn't get a good look.) He's walking with a man in his early 20s down the sidewalk. I am tempted to catch up to them to see and say something, but what would I say?

I have no idea what happened in this case. How did this boy be wandering across a busy street during rush hour alone? Was it from some serious negligence, or not? Were charges ever filed? Do his parents even know how close he came to being hit by a car at 30 miles per hour?

When I hear a story about a woman leaving her child along, walking half-naked at 2 AM, one of my first thoughts is that we're dealing with a parent who probably shouldn't be a parent. More widely available and promoted birth control probably won't stop the neglect or abuse of children, but it damn well wouldn't hurt.