darin
05-22-2007, 09:04 AM
Wow...AND....AND she gets the kid BACK.
Boy, 3, wandering alone at midnight in Pioneer Square
By HECTOR CASTRO AND JOHN IWASAKI
P-I REPORTERS
A 3-year-old boy was placed in foster care Monday after he was found wandering around Pioneer Square about 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
According to police accounts, the boy got out of a locked car while his mother was at a nearby nightclub.
"He was shivering and cold," Seattle police spokeswoman Renee Witt said.
The boy's mother could be charged with leaving a child unattended, a misdemeanor, or reckless abandonment, a felony, Witt said.
A police report said that a man first spotted the boy early Mother's Day in a parking lot at Occidental Avenue and Yesler Way.
The boy was to be evaluated at a hospital this week.
"Apparently he had some bruising, which may have come from falling down as he was wandering around Pioneer Square," said Kathy Spears, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Social and Health Services.
The agency has until Wednesday -- 72 hours from the time the boy was taken into protective custody -- to decide whether to ask a judge to order him to remain in foster care.
The boy was found wearing dark blue pants and a dark gray shirt, but no shoes, though he was wearing socks.
When he could not find an adult with the boy, the man took him to the Trinity nightclub nearby, where security officers called police.
Firefighters were called to check on the boy's health. That was when the boy first mentioned he had been in a car. The child led police to a blue station wagon, which had one unlocked door. The boy said the blanket inside the car was his, so officers let him get it.
The firefighters took the boy to the West Precinct.
No one had called to report a missing child, so officers placed the boy with Child Protective Services.
More: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/315612_lostkid15.html
Follow-up:
Mom of Pioneer Square 'lost boy' defended
Just 'an isolated act of stupidity,' DSHS worker says
By JOHN IWASAKI
P-I REPORTER
A baby-sitting plan gone awry left a 3-year-old boy alone in Pioneer Square early Sunday while his mother and her friend were across the street in a nightclub, the mother told Child Protective Services.
"It was an isolated act of stupidity by an otherwise good parent," a Department of Social and Health Services worker said Thursday.
The 24-year-old mother told authorities she was showing her visiting friend, another young woman, around Seattle when they decided to stop in Pioneer Square around 11 p.m. She parked in a lot across the street from The Last Supper Club at Occidental Avenue and South Washington Street.
The mother said that with her son asleep in the car seat, she and her friend took turns going into the club, with one them staying to watch the boy, said the DSHS worker, who asked that her name not be published.
But at some point, the tag-team plan unraveled. The boy unlocked the car door and slipped out of the station wagon, where he was spotted by a man who had parked his car just before 12:30 a.m. Sunday, police say. Seeing no one else around, the man took the boy to the nearby Trinity nightclub, where security called 911.
"They were taking turns watching the baby and obviously screwed that up," said the mother's landlord, a man named John, who did not want his last name published.
Several managers of The Last Supper Club said they did not learn about the incident until reading news accounts Monday.
The boy initially was placed in foster care and later reunited with his mother, an Issaquah resident, after she agreed Tuesday to follow a safety plan and use services specified by a community-protection team convened by Child Protective Services.
The landlord attended a meeting of social workers, medical professionals and others who developed the plan.
The DSHS worker said the single mother has no prior record with the agency and is "extremely remorseful."
She said the mother "broke down and cried" when reunited with her son.
The worker said the mother is a foreign student from Poland who attends an Eastside college and wants to be a teacher.
"She works full time, goes to school full time and is a full-time parent," the worker said. "That's a lot to put on anybody at any age."
The worker and the landlord said the mother does not have a drug or alcohol problem and apparently does not go out often. "She didn't even have one drink in that club, as unbelievable as that is," the landlord said.
Before the boy was returned to his mother, he was examined at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, where he was found "healthy and happy," the DSHS worker said.
More: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/316218_lostkid18.html
Commentary:
SEATTLE - Sometimes we all decide to take a chance.
But the chance we take doesn't often leave a child's life hanging in the balance.
I'd like to invite the policy honchos at the Department of Social and Health Services to put their banal bureaucracy aside for a moment and come on down.
The simple question is: What the hell is wrong with you people?
The more complex question is: How can you rationalize the quick return of a barefoot 3-year-old boy found wandering around Pioneer Square in the middle of the night; handing him back over to the mother who'd left him in the car while she went clubbing?
Oh, I forgot. Privacy prevents you from discussing specifics.
It's only the dead children you can be open about.
And from Eli Creekmore up through Sirita Sotelo, you've been open about lots of little kids over the years.
But this time is different, right?
You've put together a "safety plan" that might include parenting classes and drug or alcohol treatment for the mother.
Ever consider having the mother complete the safety plan BEFORE you give the child back?
This "Schrammie" is for the DSHS policy wonks who made this decision.
And if I were permitted, I'd tell you exactly where to put it.
http://www.komotv.com/news/7615786.html
Thoughts? Mother of the Year, maybe? For the record, The State of Washington is lead nearly exclusively by IDIOTS.
Boy, 3, wandering alone at midnight in Pioneer Square
By HECTOR CASTRO AND JOHN IWASAKI
P-I REPORTERS
A 3-year-old boy was placed in foster care Monday after he was found wandering around Pioneer Square about 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
According to police accounts, the boy got out of a locked car while his mother was at a nearby nightclub.
"He was shivering and cold," Seattle police spokeswoman Renee Witt said.
The boy's mother could be charged with leaving a child unattended, a misdemeanor, or reckless abandonment, a felony, Witt said.
A police report said that a man first spotted the boy early Mother's Day in a parking lot at Occidental Avenue and Yesler Way.
The boy was to be evaluated at a hospital this week.
"Apparently he had some bruising, which may have come from falling down as he was wandering around Pioneer Square," said Kathy Spears, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Social and Health Services.
The agency has until Wednesday -- 72 hours from the time the boy was taken into protective custody -- to decide whether to ask a judge to order him to remain in foster care.
The boy was found wearing dark blue pants and a dark gray shirt, but no shoes, though he was wearing socks.
When he could not find an adult with the boy, the man took him to the Trinity nightclub nearby, where security officers called police.
Firefighters were called to check on the boy's health. That was when the boy first mentioned he had been in a car. The child led police to a blue station wagon, which had one unlocked door. The boy said the blanket inside the car was his, so officers let him get it.
The firefighters took the boy to the West Precinct.
No one had called to report a missing child, so officers placed the boy with Child Protective Services.
More: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/315612_lostkid15.html
Follow-up:
Mom of Pioneer Square 'lost boy' defended
Just 'an isolated act of stupidity,' DSHS worker says
By JOHN IWASAKI
P-I REPORTER
A baby-sitting plan gone awry left a 3-year-old boy alone in Pioneer Square early Sunday while his mother and her friend were across the street in a nightclub, the mother told Child Protective Services.
"It was an isolated act of stupidity by an otherwise good parent," a Department of Social and Health Services worker said Thursday.
The 24-year-old mother told authorities she was showing her visiting friend, another young woman, around Seattle when they decided to stop in Pioneer Square around 11 p.m. She parked in a lot across the street from The Last Supper Club at Occidental Avenue and South Washington Street.
The mother said that with her son asleep in the car seat, she and her friend took turns going into the club, with one them staying to watch the boy, said the DSHS worker, who asked that her name not be published.
But at some point, the tag-team plan unraveled. The boy unlocked the car door and slipped out of the station wagon, where he was spotted by a man who had parked his car just before 12:30 a.m. Sunday, police say. Seeing no one else around, the man took the boy to the nearby Trinity nightclub, where security called 911.
"They were taking turns watching the baby and obviously screwed that up," said the mother's landlord, a man named John, who did not want his last name published.
Several managers of The Last Supper Club said they did not learn about the incident until reading news accounts Monday.
The boy initially was placed in foster care and later reunited with his mother, an Issaquah resident, after she agreed Tuesday to follow a safety plan and use services specified by a community-protection team convened by Child Protective Services.
The landlord attended a meeting of social workers, medical professionals and others who developed the plan.
The DSHS worker said the single mother has no prior record with the agency and is "extremely remorseful."
She said the mother "broke down and cried" when reunited with her son.
The worker said the mother is a foreign student from Poland who attends an Eastside college and wants to be a teacher.
"She works full time, goes to school full time and is a full-time parent," the worker said. "That's a lot to put on anybody at any age."
The worker and the landlord said the mother does not have a drug or alcohol problem and apparently does not go out often. "She didn't even have one drink in that club, as unbelievable as that is," the landlord said.
Before the boy was returned to his mother, he was examined at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma, where he was found "healthy and happy," the DSHS worker said.
More: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/316218_lostkid18.html
Commentary:
SEATTLE - Sometimes we all decide to take a chance.
But the chance we take doesn't often leave a child's life hanging in the balance.
I'd like to invite the policy honchos at the Department of Social and Health Services to put their banal bureaucracy aside for a moment and come on down.
The simple question is: What the hell is wrong with you people?
The more complex question is: How can you rationalize the quick return of a barefoot 3-year-old boy found wandering around Pioneer Square in the middle of the night; handing him back over to the mother who'd left him in the car while she went clubbing?
Oh, I forgot. Privacy prevents you from discussing specifics.
It's only the dead children you can be open about.
And from Eli Creekmore up through Sirita Sotelo, you've been open about lots of little kids over the years.
But this time is different, right?
You've put together a "safety plan" that might include parenting classes and drug or alcohol treatment for the mother.
Ever consider having the mother complete the safety plan BEFORE you give the child back?
This "Schrammie" is for the DSHS policy wonks who made this decision.
And if I were permitted, I'd tell you exactly where to put it.
http://www.komotv.com/news/7615786.html
Thoughts? Mother of the Year, maybe? For the record, The State of Washington is lead nearly exclusively by IDIOTS.