Neglectful Mom Drops Off Baby Without Making Sure Anyone’s Home, Baby Ends Up Spending Night Alone
It is difficult not to be judgmental of how other people raise their children. But there comes a point where it becomes essential to step in, speak up, and put a stop to irresponsible behavior. Redditor u/Intrepid-Pudding6327 shared how her cousin “literally abandoned” her own child at the OP’s front door while she was out of town, with no heads-up whatsoever.
The child was endangered: she was left completely alone for around a day until she was accidentally found by the author’s parents. You’ll find the full story as you read on. Bored Panda has reached out to u/Intrepid-Pudding6327 via Reddit for comment, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from her.
There is no excuse for a parent to abandon and endanger their child
Image credits: AntonioGravante (not the actual photo)
A woman shared how her niece got dumped at her front door while she was away on holiday, without any warning
Image credits: drazenphoto (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/Intrepid-Pudding6327
It was a miracle that the infant wasn’t badly hurt
Image credits: Tatiana Syrikova (not the actual photo)
Let us be very clear here: there is no excuse for what the author’s cousin did. None whatsoever. Not only was this a serious example of parental neglect, but there was also a huge chance that the child could have gotten hurt.
As the OP noted in her posts, she lives in a rural area where coyotes and other wild animals frequently roam. It is a miracle that the infant wasn’t hurt and that she was found by the author’s parents. Otherwise, the child would have been abandoned for around four days, by the time the OP would have come back from her camping trip along with her husband.
Her husband did the right thing and got in touch with the police over the incident. However, u/Intrepid-Pudding6327’s cousin and aunt both lied about the entire situation to the officers. They suggested that the OP had agreed to babysit the infant. The author neither agreed to watch her niece nor did she have the ability to do so, seeing as she was away.
There were plenty of other things the mother could have done
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
There are legitimate grounds for concern for the child’s welfare here. Hopefully, the cousin will have learned her lesson and will never endanger her daughter like this ever again. However, the fact that she’d leave her on someone’s porch without confirming that they’re there suggests that there are more issues at home.
It’s also shocking how awful the cousin was at communication and respecting boundaries. She did not get in touch with the redditor to confirm that she and her husband would be able to babysit. Also, by abandoning her child on their porch, the cousin also implied that she didn’t care about their opinions either way: they’d be forced to watch the infant whether they wanted to or not.
While it is entirely understandable that some parents are exhausted and need a helping hand, it’s logical to ask for that help first. After all, who would feel comfortable leaving their kid to someone who doesn’t even want to babysit them? There were other people, aside from the redditor, who could have possibly stepped in to look after the infant, starting from the OP’s parents to the cousin’s own mom. And it’s not like hiring a babysitter is an impossible task either. In short, out of all the possibilities available, the cousin chose the very worst one.
The mom may be guilty of physically neglecting her daughter
Image credits: Austin Guevara (not the actual photo)
According to the NSPCC, neglect is defined as the ongoing failure to meet a child’s basic needs. Neglect is the most common form of child abuse and can be divided into four main categories, from physical and educational neglect to emotional and medical neglect.
Physical neglect means that a child isn’t cared for at the most basic level: they lack food, clothing, and shelter, and they aren’t kept safe.
Educational neglect, meanwhile, means that the parents do not provide their children with a proper education. Emotional neglect happens when parents ignore, humiliate, intimidate, or isolate their kids, depriving them of the support and nurturing that they need.
While medical neglect means that a child isn’t given proper healthcare, including ignoring medical recommendations.
In this particular case, the OP’s cousin can be said to have physically neglected her daughter because she did not supervise her properly, failed to give her food, and left her in a rural area with literal coyotes slinking around.
Many people were outraged and urged the author to report her cousin to Child Protective Services
!["Karen Complains To HR About My Body, I Uno-Reverse Her Complaint, [And Now] Everyone Hates Her"](https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/coworker-complains-to-hr-about-womans-body-revenge-latest.jpg "\"Karen Complains To HR About My Body, I Uno-Reverse Her Complaint, [And Now] Everyone Hates Her\"")
C.P.S. No question about it. If authorities are not looped in and a record made then the rest of the family are monstrous.
This family is fortunate that they weren't having to prepare for a funeral for this baby. It's beyond ridiculous that the police wasn't called immediately, before the story was posted to reddit and subsequently here on BP. The mother will probably never realize how lucky she is that her baby wasn't another statistic after her selfish stunt. She is a disgusting excuse for a mother. I hope the authorities do better by this child but sadly in most areas they are sorely lacking in their ability to protect children themselves. I hope that this baby's circumstances change for the better.
Let's be extremely clear: had OP's mother not stopped by her house, this baby WOULD HAVE DIED. And it would have been an agonizing, painful death due to either dehydration or predation. There is absolutely NO reason for this baby to not already be in protective custody. The fact that OP is posting the story online rather than telling it to the police indicates that this entire family is complicit in child abuse and they will all bear responsibility WHEN it is discovered because there WILL be more of it. I am utterly horrified.
Agreed.
So a quick Google of her reddit un reveals that her family is very dysfunctional. If anyone here has better sleuthing skills than I have (and mine are pretty good), can we please try to get a location on her so that we can maybe notify the local police that this happened and maybe save this baby's life? I'm not even a little bit kidding. I'll continue searching but I'm not sure how much I can do with only Google. Can anyone help?
Oh - she already contacted her local police https://www.reddit.com/r/CPS/comments/16lgv9f/what_exactly_do_child_welfare_agencies_do/
Thanks for the link! I just spent 30 min reading it and now I'm even more upset. OP's husband notified law enforcement and both the mother (of the author) and the aunt (baby's grandmother) LIED when they were questioned, saying OP agreed to babysit and knew her cousin would be dropping the infant off. The grandmother also brought the baby to the ER that same day. So while OP doesn't know exactly what's happening, she does know that the baby is still in her cousin's custody. Also, both LE and medical professionals are mandatory reporters so it's most likely that CPS has been notified. But I'm still FURIOUS about the family's apparent lack of concern for the baby's welfare. We, online strangers, are more upset about the incident than ANY of them are. I've been thinking about this since yesterday. Why lie? Why are they protecting the cousin instead of the baby? Why is OP hesitant to report it herself? Would doing so create an unsafe situation for her? WTAF?
That sounds really fishy now as to what the real story is. Is it what she wrote on Reddit? Or did she agree to babysit, didn't tell her husband and forgot (certainly doesn't excuse the baby's mother from just leaving the baby on the porch. The OP's mom showing up the next day hints that possibly she was expecting to pick up the baby. IDK, but weird all around. I know there was a similar story in our local new of a parent leaving a child on a porch like that. Can't remember how long the baby was there, but the parent was facing charges at the time of the article.
A police department would be able to force Reddit admins to give them OP's IP address which would most likely give them the location. But I don't know if just any city's department can make that request (and then forward the case to the correct one)?
Yeah, and OP says she assumed the cousin got "scolded". SCOLDED! I mean, an actual whipping would not have been nearly good enough. (Also, think of the baby had been in the sun. Even if she was ultimately unharmed, she could have gotten a life-changing sunburn.)
Also the trauma. Of being alone and restrained, with no way out, possibly in the dark. They don't say how old the baby, but if they are 6 months, that's like a 30 year old spending about a month locked up alone in the dark (because we experience time relative to our length of time on earth)
Dehydration is extremely painful! I can't even imagine the other possibilities.
AGREED! I read this and I didn't even know HOW to formulate my response! I'm so angry! This is the kind of situation that could put me in a cell! This child's mother should be reported and arrested! To do otherwise is to be complicit in her actions. To have the unmitigated gall to berate the family for NOT being home when she dropped off her baby like a UPS package on the doorstep is beyond irresponsible!
Hope that's fake, but if not then they need to report this to the police. If not then they are just as bad
Take all of this with a grain of salt. OP has another post about how the same cousin got made at her for not making a wagyu steak. For her baby.
Yes, it is the same cousin; she posts both stories right where BP said: "Bored Panda has reached out to u/Intrepid-Pudding6327 via Reddit for comment, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from her." You can look there for yourself. If she's making it up, she's really good with the dialogue. And the cousin was mad because the OP did not pre-prepare unspiced BBQ.
I thought so. Someone is an attention whore sadly.
C.P.S. No question about it. If authorities are not looped in and a record made then the rest of the family are monstrous.
This family is fortunate that they weren't having to prepare for a funeral for this baby. It's beyond ridiculous that the police wasn't called immediately, before the story was posted to reddit and subsequently here on BP. The mother will probably never realize how lucky she is that her baby wasn't another statistic after her selfish stunt. She is a disgusting excuse for a mother. I hope the authorities do better by this child but sadly in most areas they are sorely lacking in their ability to protect children themselves. I hope that this baby's circumstances change for the better.
Let's be extremely clear: had OP's mother not stopped by her house, this baby WOULD HAVE DIED. And it would have been an agonizing, painful death due to either dehydration or predation. There is absolutely NO reason for this baby to not already be in protective custody. The fact that OP is posting the story online rather than telling it to the police indicates that this entire family is complicit in child abuse and they will all bear responsibility WHEN it is discovered because there WILL be more of it. I am utterly horrified.
Agreed.
So a quick Google of her reddit un reveals that her family is very dysfunctional. If anyone here has better sleuthing skills than I have (and mine are pretty good), can we please try to get a location on her so that we can maybe notify the local police that this happened and maybe save this baby's life? I'm not even a little bit kidding. I'll continue searching but I'm not sure how much I can do with only Google. Can anyone help?
Oh - she already contacted her local police https://www.reddit.com/r/CPS/comments/16lgv9f/what_exactly_do_child_welfare_agencies_do/
Thanks for the link! I just spent 30 min reading it and now I'm even more upset. OP's husband notified law enforcement and both the mother (of the author) and the aunt (baby's grandmother) LIED when they were questioned, saying OP agreed to babysit and knew her cousin would be dropping the infant off. The grandmother also brought the baby to the ER that same day. So while OP doesn't know exactly what's happening, she does know that the baby is still in her cousin's custody. Also, both LE and medical professionals are mandatory reporters so it's most likely that CPS has been notified. But I'm still FURIOUS about the family's apparent lack of concern for the baby's welfare. We, online strangers, are more upset about the incident than ANY of them are. I've been thinking about this since yesterday. Why lie? Why are they protecting the cousin instead of the baby? Why is OP hesitant to report it herself? Would doing so create an unsafe situation for her? WTAF?
That sounds really fishy now as to what the real story is. Is it what she wrote on Reddit? Or did she agree to babysit, didn't tell her husband and forgot (certainly doesn't excuse the baby's mother from just leaving the baby on the porch. The OP's mom showing up the next day hints that possibly she was expecting to pick up the baby. IDK, but weird all around. I know there was a similar story in our local new of a parent leaving a child on a porch like that. Can't remember how long the baby was there, but the parent was facing charges at the time of the article.
A police department would be able to force Reddit admins to give them OP's IP address which would most likely give them the location. But I don't know if just any city's department can make that request (and then forward the case to the correct one)?
Yeah, and OP says she assumed the cousin got "scolded". SCOLDED! I mean, an actual whipping would not have been nearly good enough. (Also, think of the baby had been in the sun. Even if she was ultimately unharmed, she could have gotten a life-changing sunburn.)
Also the trauma. Of being alone and restrained, with no way out, possibly in the dark. They don't say how old the baby, but if they are 6 months, that's like a 30 year old spending about a month locked up alone in the dark (because we experience time relative to our length of time on earth)
Dehydration is extremely painful! I can't even imagine the other possibilities.
AGREED! I read this and I didn't even know HOW to formulate my response! I'm so angry! This is the kind of situation that could put me in a cell! This child's mother should be reported and arrested! To do otherwise is to be complicit in her actions. To have the unmitigated gall to berate the family for NOT being home when she dropped off her baby like a UPS package on the doorstep is beyond irresponsible!
Hope that's fake, but if not then they need to report this to the police. If not then they are just as bad
Take all of this with a grain of salt. OP has another post about how the same cousin got made at her for not making a wagyu steak. For her baby.
Yes, it is the same cousin; she posts both stories right where BP said: "Bored Panda has reached out to u/Intrepid-Pudding6327 via Reddit for comment, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from her." You can look there for yourself. If she's making it up, she's really good with the dialogue. And the cousin was mad because the OP did not pre-prepare unspiced BBQ.
I thought so. Someone is an attention whore sadly.