A 4-year-old boy was found sitting alone and crying in a driveway off a busy Terrace Park, Ohio road on Aug. 31. When a responding officer asked where his mother was, the child led him to an open side door at the back of the house, where 30-year-old Sadie A. Baker was found unresponsive on the kitchen floor. A used needle and other drug paraphernalia were on the floor beside her, according to an affidavit.
Baker, 30, has been charged with endangering children and illegal use of drug paraphernalia. Court records state she is not permitted unsupervised custody of her son because of an active case with Child Protective Services. She is being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center and is scheduled for her first court appearance at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The affidavit describes the situation as a substantial risk to the safety of her 4-year-old child.
The story lands differently here on the Suncoast, where the opioid crisis reaches into our own beach towns and neighborhoods. What stands out is that a child too young to spell his own address had to walk a stranger to his mother’s side. Anyone who sees a child in a dangerous situation can call Florida’s abuse hotline at 1-800-96-ABUSE, and 911 in an emergency.
What do you think it will take to close the gap between an open case file and an actually safe child?
