Melissa Henderson is a single mother from Blairsville, Georgia who was recently handcuffed and arrested in front of her five children for what police are calling "criminal reckless conduct charges."
Apparently, letting your 14-year-old daughter babysit her younger siblings is against the law.
Henderson had to step out of the house, and put her daughter Linley in charge of her four younger siblings. During the day, her 4-year-old son Thaddeus saw one of his friends outside, and ventured out of the home to play with him.
In the 15 minutes or so that it took Linley to realize her brother had stepped out, and had literally walked just across the road to his friend's house, the other boy's mother called the police.
Upon her return home, Henderson was arrested, with the arresting officer citing that something terrible could have happened to Thaddeus, including "being kidnapped, run over, or bitten by a venomous snake."
The case has been dragged out two years now, with Henderson's lawyer, David DeLugas arguing that charging a mom for a normal parenting decision was declared "unconstitutional" by the Georgia Supreme Court in 1997.
Henderson told Reason that five police cars came to her house to place her under arrest. She said, "I almost don't have words for how low it made me feel. To truly feel in the bottom of my heart that, if I'm anything, it's a good mother and everything you do is for your kids. To be stripped of that to the point where you are handcuffed in front of them."
While Thaddeus might be well-advised to know not to go outside without telling anyone, a kid "wandering off" to play with the neighbor should be considered childhood, not child abuse, argues DeLugas.
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