I regret to inform my dear VIP readers I have upset the internet again.
This time, it's because I don't think a Mom should be in jail for leaving her 14-year-old to watch three other siblings (ages 12, 11 and 9) while she went on a mandatory work trip in Las Vegas. An adult checked in on the kids every morning and evening. The only reason the authorities found out was the 9-year-old did what kids do and hurt himself. The 14-year-old got him medical treatment and then the police found out Mom was out of town. So, Mom was arrested for neglect.
Playing devil’s advocate here: what law did she break? There is no law about specific age to babysit in Florida. The oldest child was 14. There was an adult checking in twice per day. The child was treated when there was an injury. I don’t understand why they didn’t stay with Dad (he picked them up when police called him) but what are they charging this woman with?
— Just Mindy 🐊 (@just_mindy) October 28, 2026
Would I have made this choice? No. Thankfully, even though I was a single mom for part of my years raising small children, I had parents and aunts I could depend on. If I needed help, they watched my kids — no questions asked. I was blessed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem this mom had a village.
She is going through a divorce and reportedly had a domestic violence injunction against the children’s father. The police still gave the children to him after the incident. As soon as Mom got off the plane from Las Vegas, they arrested her.
There is no law in Florida that sets a minimum age for leaving a child home alone. The Department of Children and Families provides guidelines rather than a hard age cutoff. One factor they consider is whether the child knows how to get medical help in an emergency. In this case the answer was clearly yes: when an accident happened, one of the older children called 911 and the younger sibling received treatment.
What event proved the 14-year-old was incapable of being left alone with the others? It can’t be the accident itself. Accidents happen even when adults are home. This wasn’t some bizarre or reckless scenario; the siblings were building a fort, used a dumbbell/weight to hold a side down, and it fell on the 9 year old’s head. An easy mistake to make.
There is no evidence the children were not attending school. The children were fed and in a safe home. They had access to a family friend if there was an emergency. Why exactly are we imprisoning this mother? Again, what you or I might do as a parent is not relevant. Parents know their own children and what they are capable of handling.
I allowed my 15-year-old to go on a road trip to Key West with friends during Spring Break. It was about a seven-hour drive, one of the boys could drive and they were going to stay at one of the boy's grandma's house. They were very responsible and had never given me a reason to question their judgement. They had a great time.
I have so many thoughts and opinions on this. I do not know this mother. I do not know any details about the family other than what has already been shared. I could have been the one out in cuffs - many times. I’ve been a single mom for the past 15 years (since my youngest was 4 mths old). Not by choice. I too have four kids. Oldest is 20. In an effort to survived and support them, I have left my kids home alone (even over night while on work trips). I have left them in the car while I ran into a store. I have let them roam the neighborhood together, without me. Things that would be totally normal for my childhood are now arrest-able events. I had a cop on my doorstep about 6 years ago because I let one of my sons ride his bike, helmet on, to Target, a straight shot from our house, sidewalks the entire way. (By all accounts, the cop who initially called it in was in the wrong, almost hit my son when he had the right of was crossing at a light. His solution was to follow my son into the parking lot, interrogate him, detain him, tell him, “you did nothing wrong. Your mom was in the wrong here” — words I heard directly from his mouth to my son’s ears. Then stole (took without paying) a Lego set and gave it to my son…to what? Make it all better? No, we didn’t keep the Lego set) That cop at my door step then called CPS when I didn’t agree that it was a negligent decision. A “judgement call” because there is no law to explicitly support his claim. My kids were interviewed by a stranger (twice, because they messed up the paperwork), asking very personal details about family life. How likely are they to enlist a police officer in the future? How likely are they to trust “the professionals” after being threatened with foster care by an adult who was supposedly there to protect them? This crap has to stop. It’s utterly insane. Being a parent is hard enough. Society makes it so much harder. You can’t just do what’s best for your kids. You have to factor in the likelihood of have a nosey neighbor call the cops on you because Susan down the street doesn’t think it’s safe for your 6th grader to bike to the nearby park along.
— Melissa Amaya (@MelissaAmaya32) October 28, 2026
I’m a proponent of getting kids who are in genuine danger the help they need. I believe police should protect children who are truly being abused or neglected. Too often those kids are overlooked and their cases are closed because the children have been trained to lie to authorities. Too much time is being wasted on cases like this, and it’s harmful to American families.
