A 2-year-old girl was found wandering alone in a Lincoln, Nebraska apartment parking lot Friday evening, and police say her parents are now facing charges. Officers responded near 24th and T streets around 7:15 p.m., used social media and neighbor interviews to track down the family, and determined that the toddler and her 9-month-old brother had been left alone for roughly three hours. According to investigators, the parents, ages 28 and 32, had gone to church and then shopping. Both were taken to Lancaster County Jail on suspicion of misdemeanor child abuse, and Nebraska Health and Human Services removed the children from the home.
The case is stirring up a lot of conversation, and it’s easy to see why. A 2-year-old in a parking lot at night is every parent’s nightmare, and the fact that a neighbor noticed and called police may have been what kept this from becoming something far worse. At the same time, plenty of families know what it feels like to be stretched thin with no backup, and the gap between a bad decision and a dangerous one can be razor thin.
For those of us here on the Suncoast, this one hits close to home in a different way. We’re a community that watches out for each other, whether it’s checking on a neighbor ahead of a storm or keeping an eye on the beach during red tide season. That same instinct applies to the kids down the street. So here’s the question we’re putting to you today: if you saw a toddler alone outside with no adult in sight, would you call?
