Schools and daycare were still closed because of the pandemic at the time
A single mother is facing prison after she left her 14-year-old daughter to look after her four siblings.
Melissa Henderson, from Georgia, USA, was keen to get back to work in May 2020, but schools and daycare were still closed because of covid. So she left the eldest of her five children, her 14-year-old daughter, to babysit.
Her four-year-old son briefly got out of his older sister’s sight and walked over to the neighbour’s to play with his friend. After 10 to 15 minutes, the sister realised he was missing and found him.
But the neighbour had already called 911.
When Henderson returned home, she found a sheriff waiting for her, who took down her information and seemed satisfied with the situation.
However, a week later a “whole fleet” of cars and cops arrived at her home, charged her with reckless conduct, put her in handcuffs, and took her to a cell, Fox News reports.
“It was awful. It was embarrassing,” Henderson said.
“It makes me feel hopeless, just now feeling like you can get back to providing, get back to normal. They took away every option that I even have.”
Henderson was eventually bailed from county jail by her ex-husband. If she is convicted, she could face a one-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $1,000.
Henderson is now being represented by David DeLugas from ParentsUSA. He said that his client was now “afraid she can never leave her children home alone, even for a short period of time, even with the now 15-year-old daughter in charge of the other kids, because she could get arrested again.”
The Union County District Attorney’s office claims the May 2020 incident was the second time Henderson’s four-year-old son had been outside alone in the last 12 months.
According to Georgia Department of Human Service’s guidelines, state children who are 13 or older can look after siblings for up to 12 hours.
Criminal proceedings have now been ongoing for two years, as DeLugas argues the charge is unconstitutional and seeks to get it dismissed.
He told Fox: “They claim that the same thing happened a year earlier.
“So you’re saying a year earlier, she left her children in charge of her then 13-year-old, almost 14-year-old, and somehow two rights make a wrong.
“It wasn’t wrong then, and it’s not wrong now.”
He has filed a motion to dismiss the case, Reason reports.
A GoFundMe page has also been set up to help fund any future legal action.
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