PHOTO Baby left in locked car with a note as mom shopped
In news that will make Dina Lohan sound like Mother of the Year, a New Zealand mother has sparked outrage after leaving her newborn baby unattended in a locked car while went shopping. In her defense, she did leave a note!
A man who had parked nearby in the Porirua Pak’nSave on Saturday morning noticed the sleeping baby inside the vehicle and saw the note left on top of the infant, who was wrapped in a blanket. The note read, “My mum’s in doing the shopping, call her if I need anything,” and included a cell phone number. The man waited with his family by the car to see if the mother of the baby would come out. He told the New Zealand Herald, “‘My wife said, I’m not going in without someone being here with the baby.”
After some time, two other people in the parking lot agreed to relieve the family, who had their own baby in tow, and waited by the car, after calling the number that the mother had left on the note.
The photograph of the sleeping baby inside the car, with the note resting on top of the baby’s blanket, was posted on Facebook by DJ Polly Gillespie, and quickly garnered attention. Many were furious and left comments criticizing the baby’s mother for being irresponsible and putting the child in danger. One Facebook user commented, “‘I’m sorry this is completely irresponsible! You do not leave children under the age of 14 unsupervised at all.”
According to Daily Mail, “A parent or guardian who leaves a child under the age of 14 alone for an unreasonable time or in unreasonable conditions, could be fined up to NZ$2,000 (£1,000).” The article also quoted Plunket National Child Safety adviser Sue Campbell, who said that there are significant risks of leaving a baby unattended inside a locked car; in addition to the risk of dehydration, Campbell said, “Plus there’s a security issue – a small baby is unable to defend itself if need be, or call for help, or anything like that.”
The identity of the mother is unknown, but if she were to be identified, she could be prosecuted. A spokeswoman for the police force said, “We don’t know who the people are, we don’t know the phone number, we don’t know where to start…. We would launch an investigation if we could but at this stage no one’s come forward.”
Maybe the person who photographed the sleeping baby should have also taken a picture of the license plate/waited for the mother to come out/called the police, instead of just submitting the controversial picture to a DJ!
Still, some people sympathize with the mother of the sleeping baby. The man who originally saw the baby inside the car told the New Zealand Herald, “As parents ourselves we know it is hard to get a baby to sleep, and once you start moving them they can wake up … we thought it was just a silly decision by a tired mother.” Additionally, one Facebook commented noted, “It’s not something I would have done but I choose not to come on here and condemn her. It’s very easy to come on here and cast judgement on others, because I’m sure you’ve never, ever done anything wrong in your lives.”
