Durham police issue warning to parents after 5 kids left unattended
Posted June 28, 2012 1:37 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Durham police issued an advisory Thursday after they investigated several incidents of parents leaving young children unattended in the past two months.
There have been five cases of children — all under the age of four — being left unattended, including one case where a mother left her two kids alone at home while she went to the bar. None of the youngsters was hurt in any of the reported incidents.
“Police are warning all caregivers, especially during these summer months, to be mindful of the whereabouts of all young children to ensure their safety and well-being at all times,” Durham police said in a statement.
Police said they went to an Oshawa home in May after a neighbour called them to complain about a woman who regularly left her kids, both under the age of three, alone at home. When officers arrived the doors were locked, but they got into the house through an open window and found the tots alone.
Cops found the mother’s cellphone number and called her at the bar and ordered her to come home. The youngsters were taken into the care of child protection workers.
Earlier this month, police said they found a one-year-old child sleeping alone in a Whitby home after the father had left. Officers were tipped off by the child’s mother, who’s estranged from the father.
Later this month, an alarm system alerted police to a four-year-old child who’d been left alone at an Oshawa home. Police say the child got scared and tried to open a door, triggering the alarm. The youngster told police the same thing happens every night after bedtime. The parents arrived home while officers were there and said they’d gone shopping. Child protection services are investigating that case.
And last week in Pickering, police found a two-year-old child wandering on a residential street, near several busy roadways. Officers took the tot and then canvassed the surrounding area to try and find family members, who later said they hadn’t realized the youngster wandered away.
“Where warranted, child protection workers and police may impose charges upon caregivers who are responsible for the safe well-being of children in their care where negligence is determined,” the police advisory said.
“Under the Criminal Code of Canada, section 218, anyone who unlawfully abandons or endangers a child under the age of 10 is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for up to five years.”
