No charges expected for mom of wandering toddler boy
MIDWEST CITY — Police do not plan to seek criminal charges against the mother of a 1-year-old boy who was found wandering alone on a Midwest City street Friday morning, Police Chief Brandon Clabes said Monday.
Officers and neighbors spent about three hours knocking on doors and canvassing the neighborhood after a nurse and another woman spotted the child walking down the street in a dirty blue onesie without a diaper.
Eventually, officers discovered that the child, his mother and 5-year-old sister had been living in a barn-style shed behind a home near Melody Drive
and Lyric Lane.
The shed had electricity and a sofa, but no running water, Clabes said.
“The officers and supervisors felt pretty comfortable that it wasn’t a case of neglect,” Clabes said. “It’s just the fact that she was down on her luck and trying to do the best she could for her children. She’d fallen asleep in the shed ... and the 1-year-old had gotten out.”
Police did not release the mother’s identity.
Clabes said his investigating officers didn’t believe seeking criminal charges “was the best approach to try to help her and her children.”
Instead, they contacted the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.
Sheree Powell, spokeswoman for DHS, said the children were placed with a Midwest City relative and are safe. Technically, the children are not in DHS custody because a relative was found who was able and willing to care for the children, she said.
Powell said it is not unusual for children not to be taken into state custody in instances where workers feel comfortable that a relative can keep the children safe.
DHS procedures
Powell said privacy considerations prevent her from discussing what will happen in a particular case. She said there are procedures that DHS typically follows.
First, DHS workers will check to make sure a relative’s home is a safe placement and meet with all involved family members to develop a safety plan.
The agency will then work to help a mother obtain the services she needs to maintain a safe and stable environment for her children. For example, DHS workers will help a mother determine whether she is eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, temporary cash assistance and housing benefits, Powell said.
Clabes said the mother will need to work with DHS to get her children back. The police chief said he is hopeful that child welfare workers will be able to provide the mother with the resources she needs to make that happen.
The mother and children apparently had been living in the shed for a few days after “bouncing around from different locations,” Clabes said.
“She knew the people at that address and, according to the mother, was given permission to stay at the shed,” Clabes said. He described the living arrangement as temporary and said residents of the home were just trying to help the family out.
Clabes said officers
searched the shed after obtaining consent, but nothing was found.
Police have not had any earlier contact with the mother, he said.
“If she had come to us and asked for assistance, we certainly would have referred her to all the resources we have available,” he said.
People want to help
News stories about the family’s plight have touched the hearts of many people, and the police department has received several telephone calls and Facebook posts offering assistance, Clabes said.
Clabes said he didn’t know why the mother
wasn’t staying with her Midwest City relative. That’s not unusual, he noted.
The discovery of a 1-year-old child wandering alone in the street created a neighborhood stir Friday morning.
“I found a baby wandering in the street. I don’t know where he belongs,” a caller told a 911 dispatcher. “He don’t have a diaper, so I know it’s a boy . ... We’ve asked a couple of places. They don’t have no clue who he is . ... He was roaming the street here. I said, ‘Yeah, there’s a baby loose!’”
The Oklahoman attempted to talk with residents of the home with the red and white barnstyle shed on Monday,
but nobody answered the door.
“Hard to believe they would let a young kid like that out in the street not supervised,” said Patrick Cauthen, a neighbor.
Cauthen, 88, said he and other neighbors were unaware the mother and children had been living in the shed.
Cauthen said he was home Friday morning when the woman who called 911 went door-todoor with the boy searching for his family. The woman held the boy’s hand as they went, he said.
“The child was real calm,” Cauthen said.
Other neighbors also went knocking on doors in search of the boy’s family.